Smart city plan envisages extension of underground drainage network

Consultants present final draft proposal to the councillors

Extension of the underground drainage network of the city will be a major component to be executed under the Smart City Plan for Tiruchi.

The salient features of the draft proposal, which is to be submitted to the Ministry of Urban Development within December 15, were explained to the councillors at the corporation on Wednesday.

In a presentation, Simon Selvaraj, associate director-strategic consulting, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), said that extension of underground drainage system had been included in the retrofitting model. As per the plan, the UGD system would be extended to 16 more wards in the city. The existing system covered 98.7 km. The new plan would cover 30 km. Moreover, special emphasis would be on recycle and reuse of treated water. The efficiency of treatment plant would be enhanced to 100 per cent so as to ensure recycle and reuse of treated water.

A few councillors urged the corporation to include the areas of Vekkaliamman Temple and Vayalur Road in the tourism corridor component of the retrofitting plan. Some of them stressed the need for including their wards.

Intervening in the discussion, S. Nagesh, City Engineer, said the proposal had been finalised as per the established procedure and guidelines of the smart city initiative. There was a possibility of extending the smart city plan in the next phase. Left out areas would be included in it.

Mr. Selvaraj said there would not be big changes in the final plan except fine tuning. It would be submitted with the prescribed format to the Union Urban Development Ministry within December 15.