Corporation budget earmarks Rs 100 cr for safe city scheme

With the scars of the devastating flood of 2015 still remaining, the Greater Chennai Corporation has turned to technological measures to ensure that the city does not face the same fate again. 

This, coupled with an effective network of storm water drain would help the civic body deal with flooding during monsoons in the coming years, said officials.

“We will implement flood control and flood monitoring system project this year, which would have sensors in reservoirs and major storm water drains. 

When the water level rises to touch the sensors, we will receive immediate alert about the imminent flood. This will enable us in preventing losses due to the floods. We will make Chennai a flood-resilient city,” said Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash.

The 2019-2020 Corporation budget has also allocated Rs 420 crore for storm water drains, which includes funds received from the World Bank.

“Nearly 99 per cent of the storm water drain works in Adyar basin with World Bank Fund has been completed. We are also taking up the storm water drain project in Kovalam and Kosasthalaiyar basin. We are in process of receiving funds from Asian Development Bank; the works are expected to commence this year,” Prakash said.

This year, the civic body would also focus on developing interior roads in extended areas. It would draft a plan of action to analyse the requirements of these areas. For this, the interior and bus routes roads department has been allocated Rs 537.22 crore.

As the work on replacing street lights with energy-saving LED fittings, the civic body has earmarked Rs 171.35 crore to upgrade the cables connecting the lights and to implement remote monitoring system. “Tender documents are ready for the street light monitoring. The work will commence after the elections,” said the Commissioner.

The budget estimates for 2019-20 financial year has allocated Rs 100 crore for the Safe City project for women under the Nirbhaya Fund.

“Under the project, we have identified 617 crime hotspots where we will install SOS buttons. When the person in distress presses the button, the alert goes to police. This will reduce the response time to five minutes. Now, the reaction time is 18 minutes,” he explained.

The civic body has allocated Rs 175 crore for the special projects including Safe City project.

In addition to the more than 600 parks that the city has, the Corporation will develop 200 new parks across Chennai. Special attention will be given to the added areas, the official said, noting that Rs 53.47 crore has been allocated to the Park Department.

New bridges on Elephant Gate Road bridge, Stephenson Road (across Otteri Nullah) bridge, six bridges to connect Buckingham Canal and ECR, three bridges on Puzhal surplus canal, Eldams Road bridge and other bridges have received an allocation of Rs 227.70 crore. Apart from this, all the bridges in the city would be illuminated with decorative lights.

Meanwhile, Rs 165 crore has been set aside for the Buildings Department to maintain and construct schools and multi-level parking.

In a novel method to reduce the waste generated in the city, the Greater Chennai Corporation has proposed to encourage the upcycling of recyclable waste. “Many would throw out the used bags, dresses, footwear and other such waste. 

These items can be reused and made into other items. For instance, used dresses can be upcycled to make doormats. So, we are going to promote circular loop economy by setting up of upcycling units. This would give employment to more than 20,000 persons,” Prakash said.

The civic body would decentralise the garbage recycling to lessen the stress on Kodungaiyur and Perungudi landfills. Capacity of more than 200 composting centres in the city to be increased to reduce the waste by 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes. 

Also, bulk garbage generators (apartments, commercial establishments) would be asked to compost their waste and ensure zero waste generation. Through these steps, the Corporation envisages reducing the amount of garbage going to landfills by 20 per cent.

Allocations to set up water ATMs across the city, which would provide 20-litre for Rs 7, also has been made in the budget. “We will set up two to three water ATMs in each division to provide drinking water at low cost. 

For the next 10 years, drinking water will be provided at Rs 7. Many local bodies have implemented the water ATM scheme,” Prakash said.

The 2019-20 budget has estimated an income of Rs 5,697.55 crore and expenditure of Rs 5,743.87 crore, with a deficit of Rs 46.32 crore.