The Chennai Corporation will construct a stormwater drain network, totalling nearly 800 km, in the areas that have been merged with it as part of the measures to prevent water-logging.
The new areas come under the Corporation zones of Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur. Areas where water-logging is severe would receive priority in implementation of the project.
Construction of 505 km stormwater drains under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is under way in remaining seven zones of Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru-Vi-Ka-Nagar, Anna Nagar, Teynampet, Kodambakkam and Adyar.
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A study by the civic body found that 2,752-km roads in the newly-added areas had only stormwater drains 682.4 km long. The proposed network of new drains in the merged areas seeks to integrate the existing drains with suitable design.
Among the merged local bodies, the erstwhile Ambattur Municipality had the largest network of stormwater drains with a total length of 177.95 km.
Kathivakkam with a stormwater drain length of 7.5 km had the smallest network among the nine municipalities that were merged with the Chennai Corporation.
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Many of the town panchayats such as Sholinganallur, Injambakkam, Semmencheri and Uthandi, which were merged with the Chennai Corporation, had constructed not more than one km of stormwater drain.
Panchayats such as Neelangarai, Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, Sadayankuppam, Kadapakkam, Theeyamabkkam, Vadaperumbakkam, Surapattu, Kathirvadu and Puthagaram have undeveloped network and were not able to furnish data on stormwater drains to the Corporation before the merger.
The civic body work would implement the stormwater drain project in the added areas using prefabricated structures to complete the work without disruption of traffic on such roads.