The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Rs.522 crore development plan for southern suburbs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Rs.522 crore development plan for southern suburbs

K. Manikandan

Roads, storm water drains, water supply given priority

TAMBARAM : Elected representatives and civic groups in Alandur, Pallavaram and Tambaram Municipalities have sought more time to study the Rs.522 crore plan prepared by the State Government for the development of their areas.

Representatives of Wilbur Smith Associates, the firm entrusted with preparing the project report of the City Corporate cum Business Plan, made a power point presentation at a consultative meeting recently.

Apart from commissioning the project report, the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure and Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) had drawn up similar plans for 54 urban local bodies in the State.

Cluster approach

The three municipalities have been taken up as a cluster for the first time in Tamil Nadu, said officials of TNUIFSL. The idea was to improve living standards of the urban population and enable urban local bodies to access funds from financial instituions.

E. Karunanidhi and E. Mani, chairmen of Pallavaram and Tambaram Municipalities respectively and A. Duraivelu, vice chairman of Alandur Municipality, members of civic groups and officials from the local bodies were present at the meeting.

Eight areas

Wilbur Smith listed eight areas of improvement: water supply, sewerage and sanitation, storm water drains, protection of water bodies, solid waste management, roads, traffic management, street lighting with underground service ducts and improvement of slums.

The Rs. 522 crore is to be spent over seven years. Tambaram's share is Rs. 227 crore, Pallavaram Rs. 198 crore, and Alandur Rs. 95 crore. Nearly one-third has been earmarked for roads, followed by storm water drains and water supply. The needs of these areas for the next 25 years had been taken care of in the plan, they said.

CPI (M) councillor from Pallavaram S. Narasimhan said the discussions would have been more purposeful if a note about the plan's components had been circulated to elected representatives. He said many sections, including people experienced in municipal administration, retired government officials and civic groups were left out of the meeting.

More time had to be given for to study the key components, before the final plan was drawn up, he said. Officials said another round of consultations would be held.

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