Rs 800 crore for remodelling 125 km of stormwater drains

DHNS

Bengaluru, 15 Jun 2016: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the state government has released a grant of Rs 800 crore for remodelling 125 km of stormwater drains in the city.

 

Making the announcement after inspecting several ongoing works, including on drains, bridges and a tree park, during his second city rounds this year, the chief minister said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike would take up de-silting of drains and construct concrete retaining walls along the channels.

 

“The city has 842 km of stormwater drains. Only 115 km of drains have been de-silted and restored with concrete retaining walls. BBMP is right now working on improving an additional 25 km of drains at a cost of Rs 200 crore. Depending on the availability of funds, the entire 842 km of drains will be developed in phases,” he said.

 

He said the cost of developing one kilometre of drain was about Rs 7 crore and restoring the entire 842 km of drains would require more than Rs 4,000 crore.

 

Rs 7,300 cr for city

He said the recent Cabinet approval sanctioning Rs 7,300 crore for the development of Bengaluru under Nagarothana scheme was the highest-ever allocated to the city so far. “Funds will be released to different government agencies such as BBMP, BDA, BMRCL and BWSSB to take up various developmental works,” he said.

 

Of the total grant of Rs 7,300 crore, Rs 2,976 crore has been allocated for road development work; Rs 1,000 crore for improving stormwater drains; Rs 2,175 crore for spillover works; Rs 153 crore towards grade separator; Rs 250 crore for the development of roads in the newly added 110 villages under the Palike; and Rs 600 crore for solid waste management, the chief minister said.

 

He also promised water supply and underground drainage facilities in the newly added areas of BBMP, which are estimated to cost Rs 5,118 crore, with financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency.