Urban News

The Hindu        05.01.2011

Corporation to provide cold storage facility at new flower market

— PHOTO S.SIVA SARAVANAN

MODERN FACILITY:Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy (right) and Mayor R. Venkatachalam at the inauguration of the flower market in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation will soon provide a cold storage facility at the new flower market, which State Minister for Rural Industries Pongalur N. Palanisamy inaugurated on Tuesday.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 15 lakh and the work is expected to be completed before Deepavali this year, according to sources in the civic body.

The current status of the project is that the civic body has prepared the estimate and is ready to float the tender. The storage facility is expected to come up on a 24 sq.m. room which will have freezer boxes for flower merchants to hire.

The new market the Minister inaugurated has 27 retail shops, 18 wholesale shops and an auction hall on 40 cent. The rest of the 77.5-cent plot has been used for parking. The Corporation has spent Rs. 98.37 lakh to construct the new market.

Of the amount spent, it has managed to let on lease 18 shops, the auction hall and parking space along with toilet for around Rs. 30 lakh.

The sources say as the remaining 27 shops attracted only one tender each, the civic body as per norms will issue fresh tenders.

The Hindu       05.01.2011

Corporation begins storm water drain project in Coimbatore

Photo: M. Periasamy

Getting ready: Stormwater drain work in progress at Kovilmedu in Coimbatore. -

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation has begun the storm water drain project, providing the much-needed relief from flooding to residents.

The civic body is implementing the Rs. 180-crore project in seven packages in 31 zones under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Engineers looking after the implementation of the JNNURM projects say rainwater collected from the areas will be drained into Kovilmedu Pallam, Sanganur Pallam, Ganapathy Pallam and a few other natural drains and from there to the lakes that dot the city's landscape.

In implementing the project, the engineers have divided the city's 72 wards into 112 zones.

In the first phase, the storm water drain project is being implemented in only 31 zones, covering eight wards in full and 42 wards in part.

They have further divided the first phase into seven packages, which are being implemented in areas where the underground drainage facility is available.

Storm water from the areas will be implemented into Kovilmedu drain, the channel draining water into Selva Chinthamani tank, Sanganur Pallam and the channel draining water into Valangkulam tank.

The engineers say they are concrete lining the drains till the depth is 90 cm and using reinforced concrete thereafter. A total of 731 km of drain will be constructed in this phase.

K. Boopathy, Superintending Engineer, says the width of the drains has been decided based on rainfall in the catchment area. “The engineers studied the rainfall intensity and topography before deciding on the width. They also took into account the slope of the area the drain will cover.”

The civic body's original proposal to the Union Government was for Rs. 1,082 crore and that included concrete lining all the natural drains within the city limits.

The aim was to cover 40 km, says Mr. Boopathy. The proposal did not come through, though.