Rs 40 crore aid to help corporation study Chennai drain system

CHENNAI: The city corporation has received a grant of Rs 40 crore from German bank KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) for setting up a disaster management control centre in the city. This aid comes after the bank sanctioned the Rs 1,230 crore Kovalam basin project at the Indo-German-States Tripartite meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday.

Corporation commissioner G Prakash and the chief engineer for the stormwater drains department, L Nandakumar, attended the meeting and presented various projects implemented by the civic body under the integrated stormwater drain project, including the Cooum and Adyar restoration.They also enlisted the projects that would be taken up using the Rs 40 crore grant.
The fund will be used for planning and designing the water-carrying infrastructure along the course of rivers Cooum, Adyar, Kovalam and Kosasthalaiyar, Nandakumar said. This will include studying the network of stormwater drains in Thiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Teynampet, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones. The fund will also be used to update the existing Geographic Information System (GIS) — by geotagging drains and creating a map of existing and planned stormwater drains in the city — for better management of the drain network.
Apart from this, if funds are left, the corporation plans to study the possibility of digitising the operation and maintenance of the city’s drain network using some software. Once digitised, an expert consultant can be appointed to conduct regular studies of the infrastructure.
Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has also found that several of its junior officers are still not clear about the technicalities of managing stormwater drains and plans to train them using exaples from exemplary drain networks, flood management and project management found abroad. Setting up a permanent coordination platform to improve efficiency at times of crises is also on cards.
Meanwhile, GCC representatives will meet with the KfW bank in July over the Rs 1,230 crore loan sanctioned by the bank to improve the 360-km drain network of Kovalam basin. After this, the loan agreement is expected to be signed in January 2020. Feasibility study, design and consultancy will be done by KfW. It will also oversee GCC’s work with bid documents, tender process and project management.