The deadline for work to create a reservoir by linking Orathur and Arambakkam tanks across a tributary of the Adyar near Padappai has been pushed by six more months as it awaits land transfer.
The new reservoir was envisaged to cater to the needs of the burgeoning metropolis and mitigate floods in some of the city’s southern suburbs. However, the nearly ₹56-crore project has been delayed due to issues in acquiring land.
The Water Resources Department is awaiting orders from the Revenue Department for transfer of nearly 38.47 acres of land to owners whose property would be acquired for the construction of the new reservoir. The identified land is in places such as Ammanambakkam and Orathur. Instead of compensation, the land would be transferred to make land acquisition easy, the officials said.
Officials said the major work to construct the connecting bund between the two tanks is pending due to the land transfer issue. Of the connecting bund running to 800 metres, nearly 420 metres is yet to be completed as land is yet to be transferred for the project.
Surplus water
As only 57% of the work to build the reservoir has been completed, a portion of the floodwater received from tanks upstream had to be drained into Orathur maduvu that joins the Adyar during this northeast monsoon.
The department had created a temporary, a 38-metre wide channel, to convey surplus water from the reservoir into Orathur Maduvu.
“We were able to store only 75% of water in both the tanks as the work is incomplete. Once the lands are transferred, we will be able to complete the project in six months,” said an official.
Designed on the lines of the fifth city reservoir in Thervoy Kandigai-Kannankottai project, the new reservoir would have a water spread area of nearly 1,200 acres and store 750 million cubic feet of water.
