Urban News

The Hindu 29.04.2010

Stormwater drain project inaugurated

Staff Reporter

Mayor M.Subramanian at the inaugural in Kolathur Catchment area on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: A total of 44 residential localities in Kolathur will benefit from 20.3 km-stormwater drains that are to be constructed by the Chennai Corporation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, according to Mayor M. Subramanian.

Canal

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Rs.25.52 crore project to prevent stagnation in the area on Wednesday, he said that in the last three years a total of 18.56 km length of stormwater drain have been constructed at a cost of Rs.10.07 crore in Kolathur. He said that works, including construction of 3.7 km of arterial drains at a cost of Rs.8.85 crore, 9.6 km of feeder drains at a cost of Rs.11.26 crore and 7 km of collector drains at Rs.5.41 crore would be taken up in Kolathur. Mr. Subramanian said the Public Works Department would take up the construction of a canal to take surplus water from the Kolathur Lake to the Madhavaram Lake. A 3.5-km canal would be laid at a cost of Rs.19 crore, he said.

MLAs P. Ranganathan and V.S. Babu, Deputy Mayor R. Sathyabhama, leader of Opposition in the Corporation Council Saidai P. Ravi and councillors and civic body officials participated.

B. Purushothaman resident of Velavan Nagar in Kolathur, said residents were happy about the project and hoped that areas that are badly affected would get priority in the works that are to be taken up.

“Areas like Poompuhar Nagar have knee deep water after even small showers. If Kolathur is covered completely with stormwater drains it would help this low-level area,” he said.

The Hindu 24.04.2010

Builders' association plans for training programmes

Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI: The Builders' Association of India (BAI), Tiruchi Centre, the fourth largest in the country with 432 members, has plans to address manpower shortage in the employment-intensive building industry by conducting training programmes in masonry, plumbing, electrician, and bar-bending through tie-ups with engineering colleges.

“We intend to train up to 2,000 persons in a year, thereby enabling them to keep pace with modernisation of the industry,” the new Chairman for 2010-11 of BAI Tiruchi Centre S. Selvaraj told the media here on Thursday.

The raw candidates for whom stipend will be paid for the short-term programmes spanning 10 days each will be sponsored by builders. Theoretical training will be in colleges and practical exposure in building sites.

The programmes will be certified by the Construction Industry Development Council functioning under the Planning Commission of India, he said, pointing out that the training had become necessitated by migration of skilled workers to other countries.

The BAI, he said, was looking forward for fructification of the proposal for decentralisation of plan approval process during this year.

As per the plan, approving bodies akin to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) are to be created in Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai.

This will help in reducing the cycle time for project completion.

Currently, an investor on large buildings outside Chennai has to wait for a year before securing approval from the CMDA. Mr. Selvaraj and the outgoing president of BAI, Tiruchi Centre, V. Manjunath, who was present were hopeful that the industry will be insulated from artificial rise in land costs when the Real Estate Regulatory Authority proposed by the Centre gets functional.

Various BAI centres were in the process of forwarding ideas for framing of guidelines, they said. Other new office-bearers: M. Manimaran (Vice-Chairman), M. Sitharaman (Secretary), Jothi G. Thiagarajan and M. Thirusangu (Joint Secretaries) and R. Murugesan (Treasurer) were also present.

These new-office bearers for 2010-11 are to be installed at a function here on Sunday by the State Transport Minister K.N. Nehru in the presence of former Minister S. Regupathy, and State Chairman of BAI (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) K. Viswanathan.

The new office-bearers said they will make a representation to Mr. Nehru seeking a permanent site for the BAI, Tiruchi Centre in the city limits. The Centre has been conducting exhibitions every year showcasing new technologies in the building industry.