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The Chennai Corporation has attributed the delay in construction of stormwater drains in the city under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) to contractors from other parts of the country who have been unable to complete the work on time.

Mayor Saidai S. Duraisamy on Sunday said that non-cooperation by the contractors was a major reason for the delay in implementing the comprehensive flood mitigation project that is a joint imitative of the Public Works Department and the civic body in four basins. Due to the delay, the cost of the project has gone up from Rs. 1,447.91 crore to Rs. 1,475.43 crore and fresh estimates had been drawn up and sent for approval.

The Corporation was to have taken up work at a length of 533 km at a cost of Rs. 814.88 crore and the PWD at a length of 96 km at a cost of Rs. 633.3 crore. The Central government had, in several phases, from December 2008 to January 2009 given its nod for the project. The then DMK government issued the G.O. only in July 2009, after a delay of six months, he said.

Mr. Duraisamy said that a difficult clause in the tender that only those contractors who had taken up work worth at least Rs. 5 crore could participate in the bidding, only led to further delays in implementing the project. A total of around 17 months of precious time was lost thanks to these various causes. Two elections and the monsoons caused another nine months of delay, he added.

From the time the present council came into being in October 2011, the work has been expedited, he said.


Credit: The Hindu