Chennai's waterways to get facelift soon

Chennai, Oct 12 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government has chalked out several new proposals for the rejuvenation of the city's waterways and is in talks with the World Bank for financial assistance, State Public Works Department Minister Duraimurugan has said.

Addressing a meeting organised by Chennai Heritage, showcasing the success story of Sabarmati river project, here last night, he said the city's waterways such as the Cooum and Buckingham canal would get a facelift soon once the Government got the nod from the World Bank.

However, the Minister pointed out that political upheavals and problems in rehabilitating the displaced poor were among the stumbling blocks to such proposals.

''Cleaning the water is not a difficult task, but resettling the people, living along the river banks, will be hard,'' he added.

Mr Duraimurgan urged the industrial community to come forward and assist the Government in improving the waterways of the city.

''I will very soon go to Ahmedabad to see the ongoing Sabarmati river project to get an idea about how to improve the city's waterways,'' he said.

Earlier, Mr Bimal Patel of Environmental Planning Collaborative, a not-for-profit professional planning and development management company, presented an outline of the ambitious Sabarmati Riverfront Development Project, costing about Rs 1,250 crore.

The cost of the project was to be recovered from the sale of reclaimed land, expected to fetch around Rs 1,500 crore.

Chennai Mayor M Subramanian, CMDA Vice-Chairman R Santhanam and directors of Chennai Heritage N Sankar and Tara Murali were among those present on the occasion.

UNI