Chennai

According to a Corporation official, online tenders have been floated on Thursday as 43 packages covering several stretches in core city zones. “The project will be implemented at a cost of around Rs 120 crore and the fund has been sanctioned by the World Bank,” the official said.

As per a Corporation document, as many as 144 stretches have been identified, where storm water links are absent. The total length of the 144 stretches is close to 45 kilometres.

“However, the plan is to demolish the existing drains on the 144 stretches. We have to demolish around 33 kilometres of old drains and reconstruct 45 kilometres of new drains,” the official added.

As of January 2021, the Corporation maintained as many as 8,835 storm water drains with a total length of 2,071 kilometres. Meanwhile, the civic body has commenced desilting the existing storm water drains in preparation for the northeast monsoon.

“Desilting works are being carried out in storm water drains of a length of 716 kilometres at a cost of Rs 9.96 crore. The desilting of 76 kilometres of storm water drains has been completed and the remaining work will be completed before October 15,” a Corporation press release said.

The release added that contractors are instructed to provide safety equipment to the workers, who are deployed for desilting works. Silt removed from the drains is being taken to dump yards immediately to prevent traffic issues.

On the other hand, residents complain that the desilting works are not carried properly by contractors.

“The contractors remove silt only near the manholes and leave inner portions. This is useless as the silt accumulated inside the drains will prevent the the flow of water,” NB Babu, a KK Nagar resident pointed out.

Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!

Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!

Click here for iOS

Click here for Android