Water project complete, but residents yet to get supply

CHENNAI: Though the water supply and underground sewerage system (UGSS) in Ullagaram-Puzhuthivakkam scheme area, a project that started in July 2010, has been completed, very few residents have water supply while sewage system still remains out of reach.


Officials said they might have access to the facilities by June.

Residents of Madipakkam and Puzhuthivakkam are affected by the delay.

For nearly a decade, residents in 497 streets of wards 168 and 169 under

Greater Chennai Corporation

have been waiting for the project work to end, to finally have access to water and a proper sewerage system. There is no end in the near sight, say residents, as the Metrowater will take a few more months to handover the house connections.

“Several residents have paid Rs 7,500 for water connections that are yet to handed over. Of 32,000 families in the project area, less than 400 were given house service connections when the project was commissioned in 2016. Metrowater officials have not shown any interest in speeding up the project,” said P Rengaswamy, a resident.

Residents are forced to pay through their nose for availing water and sewerage services from private players meanwhile. Though pipe-laying and overhead tank work were over in August 2017 in four of the six project areas — Annai Theresa Nagar, Mandaveli bus stand, MG Nagar and Arul Jothi Salai, only 244 water connections were handed over under the project.

“In February this year, the overhead tank at Annai Theresa Nagar was also commissioned and inaugurated by the chief minister through video conferencing but officials have only recently started collecting applications for the water supply,” said K Kuppuswamy, pained by the delay.

Residents added that Metrowater officials have neither collected charges nor application forms for the underground sewerage system.

Senior Metrowater officials said the agreement terms required the contractor to carry out tests on the water and sewaerage system before handing over connections to residents. “There are teething issues which need to be fixed. The headworks have to be run by the contractor for four months in the water supply project for testing. But the commissioning is on and will be completed after the test run is over. As far as the UGSS project is concerned, defects identified during tests are being fixed,” said a senior official from the projects wing.

“We are testing for leakages and fixing them. The handover will be completed by June,” added an engineer.