The Times of India             26.06.2013

Corporation hikes rent 340% on cos laying underground cables

CHENNAI: Corporation of Chennai is preparing for a windfall : It has hiked the rent it charges companies to lay cables and pipelines by more than 340 % and expects this to earn it an additional 6 crore a year .

It has increased the rent from the earlier rate of 9,400/ km a year to 32 ,450/km a year.

Among its customers are telephone and high speed internet service providers who need to install cable and fibreoptic networks under corporation-owned land and roads . Bharti Televentures Ltd is its top customer, paying the corporation track rent of 1.15 crore per year for the 1,231 .9 km of cables it has laid under 7,164 roads in the city.

But customers are not limited to telecom companies. Apollo Hospitals last year became the first non-communication entity to pay track rent, shelling out 1.27 lakh for a 69-metre-long pipeline.

"The corporation has not increased the track rent since 2000," said a civic body official. "We have increased the fee according to the present rates. We also plan to raise the track rent by at least 10% every year."

Officials said the additional income will help the fund corporation projects and provide civic amenities. "For instance , we are removing weeds and dense undergrowth along the Adyar and Cooum rivers , Buckingham Canal and other waterways in the city to counter the mosquito problem in a project that costs 6.8 crore ," an official said . He said the civic body also needs more funds to relay and repair damaged roads, especially in the expanded areas.

The civic body had recently written to the government, asking for permission to increase the track rent, which was last fixed in 2000. The civic body collected 2.8 crore in track rent in 2011-12. Officials said the corporation does not charge Metrowater and TNEB any rent as they provide essential services.

Telecom companies say a hike in the track rent will cut into their revenue. "We have not received any official communication from the corporation on this so far," BSNL spokesperson G Vijaya said. "If the rent is hiked it is bound impact our revenue."

Residents, for their part, would like to see the corporation use its extra funds to fix the roads after they are dug up to lay cables. "Telecom companies dig up roads to lay cables, but neither they nor the corporation repair the roads after they've dug them up ," said Anantha Raman , a resident of Kodambakkam .

According to a 2001 government order, all restoration work after cable laying in urban areas should be carried out by the applicants at their own cost after the work is completed.