Stormwater drain construction to get Rs 2.5k cr from Asian Development Bank

The development came as a huge respite to the civic body that had been unsuccessfully trying to find a funding agency for the project that would mitigate flooding in North Chennai. “We had approached Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) earlier. But both the agencies rejected our application. We sent a fresh proposal to ADB with corrections and the agency has agreed to sanction funds,” a Chennai Corporation official said. According to the official, the civic body would construct integrated stormwater drains in the Kosasthalaiyar basin and the ADB would provide Rs 2,518 crore for the same.

“Our proposal to accept funds from the foreign agency has been approved by the urban development and economic affairs department. Now, the proposal is under the perusal of Niti Aayog. Once Niti Aayog gives its nod, funds will be released. A meeting was held in New Delhi in this regard and Corporation higher officials had participated,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Chennai Corporation has commenced the process to build integrated stormwater drains (ISWD) in Kovalam Basin at a cost of Rs 1,243 crore. Kovalam Basin has been segregated into M1, M2 and M3, and the civic body has floated tenders to construct ISWD in areas under M3. German Development Bank (KfW) is providing the funds for that. M3 will have integrated stormwater drains to a length of 52.5 km and it would mitigate the inundation in Kottivakkam, Palavakkam, Neelankarai, Injambakkam, Uthandi and Sholinganallur. In total, the Kovalam basin would have stormwater drain network of 360 km.

ISWD in Kovalam basin would directly drain the water into the sea, whereas, ISWD network in Kosasthalaiyar basin would drain rainwater into the Kosasthalaiyar river, then to the sea.