The Hindu 07.06.2013
SWD project: civic body receives last payment from Centre
The Coimbatore Corporation received Rs. 26 crore from
the Government of India – the last instalment of funds it had to release
to the urban local body for implementing the storm water drain (SWD)
project.
The Corporation is implementing the SWD and a
few other projects with funds from the Government under the Jawaharlal
Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme. According to sources, the
Government released the funds in New Delhi after conducting a meeting to
review the progress of works. For release of funds, the urban local
body ought to have utilised 75 per cent of the fund released in the
earlier instalment. The Government, however, contributes only 50 per
cent of the total project cost of Rs. 180 crore. The State Government
contributes 20 per cent and the Coimbatore Corporation 30 per cent. The
State Government would release its share of the remaining fund along
with the Central Government’s, the sources said and added that the State
Government would release Rs. 9.85 crore. The Corporation had divided
the SWD project into seven packages to implement the scheme in the old
Corporation area of 60 wards. Of the seven packages it had completed the
fifth package, which was executed by SEW Infrastructure Limited,
Hyderabad. The project involved constructing drain for 83.59 km and 340
culverts at a cost of Rs. 19.06 crore.
The civic
body’s objective is to collect the run off water from roads and take it
through the drain to the nearest natural drain – Sanganoor Pallam,
Karupparayan Odai, etc. The water will finally reach River Noyyal. The
Corporation started the SWD work in September-October 2010 with a
mandate to the contract-companies to complete the work between 12 and 20
months depending upon the drain length. In executing the project, the
Corporation had to face opposition from residents who did not want trees
to be felled. The civic body agreed with the residents’ views and
bypassed the tree trunks. The Corporation would complete the work by
July 2013, the sources added.