Preliminary work is in progress to construct a fourth desalination plant with a capacity to treat 400 million litres of seawater at Perur, just a few kilometres away from the existing Nemmeli plant, Municipal Administration Minister K.N.Nehru said here on Monday.
The treated water from the ₹5,000 crore plant will be distributed to several areas, including the southern suburbs such as Tambaram, Pammal, Sembakkam, Chitlapakkam and Thiruneermalai. Other industrial and residential areas, such as Mangadu, Alandur, Valasaravakkam and Madhavaram, will also be supplied. Nearly 22.67 lakh people will benefit from the project. The water agency has proposed to have the plant commissioned by the end of 2024.
Mr. Nehru noted that the upcoming plant to treat 150 mld of seawater at Nemmeli will be commissioned in three months. About 9 lakh residents living in areas such as Velachery, Madipakkam, St. Thomas Mount, Medavakkam and Keelkattalai will be supplied by this plant.
The Minister laid the foundation stone for the ₹249.47 crore project to provide underground drainage network at Madipakkam on Monday. The work would be completed in 30 months. The urbanised tanks that do not have ayacut area and spread over 500-1,000 acre would be desilted to enhance storage capacity, he said.
He also highlighted various other sewerage schemes that have been taken up. This year, sewerage schemes have been initiated for ₹184 crore under the Singara Chennai 2.0 project. Of the 42 works, 17 have been completed so far. On the ongoing sewerage works, Mr. Nehru said the projects were in progress in areas such as Kathivakkam, Madhavaram, Manali, Kottivakkam and Pallikaranai for a total length of 1,128 km. A special fund of ₹500 crore had been allotted every year for the projects.
He also reviewed the progress of sewer work in ward 137 covering Choolaipallam.
Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, Greater Chennai Corporation Mayor R. Priya and Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi were present.
