Agreement signed, German bank to fund SWD work in Kovalam basin

The agreement was entered on March 4. Prior to signing the agreement, representatives from the funding agency had met officials of Public Works Department, Metro Water and Highways department among others.

The agreement between the Corporation and KfW follows the Indo-German Agreement made in 2014 at New Delhi. “The process to receive funds from the German funding agency had started in 2016 and several rounds of talks were held to discuss the proposal. During the course of discussions, KfW agreed to fund the construction of storm water drain network in Kovalam basin,” a Corporation official said.

The civic body would construct a 426 km-long storm water drain network in areas covering Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones apart from some parts of Alandur zone.

“The Kovalam basin has been segregated into M1, M2 and M3 components, and the German bank is preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for M1 and M2 components that cover Madipakkam, Adambakkam, Pallikaranai, Ram Nagar and others. It would take six months to finalise the DPR. The project would commence after the State government accords administrative sanction,” the official added.

The civic body has already started the process to construct drains for 52 km in Palavakkam, Kottivakkam and Sholinganallur that come under M3 component. Once the DPR for other components are prepared, the funding agency would release the funds.

The civic body has also been trying to get fund from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to build storm water drain network in Kosasthalaiyar basin at an expected expense of Rs 2,518 crore. Meanwhile, anticipating an early approval from the Asian Development Bank, the State government has already made a provisional allocation of Rs 350 crore for the year 2020-2021. The project would cover 765 km in the northern part of the city.

“We have submitted DPR to the Asian Development Bank and are awaiting approval,” the official said.