JICA team likely to present comprehensive flood control master plan for Chennai by December end
A team of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is likely to present its comprehensive flood control master plan for Chennai by December end.
The report, being prepared by the JICA expert team, would include recommendations for urbanised Chennai river basin, not restricted to Chennai’s core areas, for flood management. The comprehensive plan is likely to suggest proposals worth ₹22,000 crore for flood mitigation, sources in the Water Resources Department said.
The plan would include measures to create additional water sources in upstream catchment areas such as Tiruttani to store floodwater, and improve existing waterbodies in the catchment areas. These proposals would help conserve floodwater and reduce inundation in urban areas.
Proposals such as widening of rivers and climate change-adoptive measures would be a part of the plan. The JICA team had also carried out a model study, incorporating intricate details of Chennai floods in the past to compile the plan, officials said.
Some of the proposals include a straight cut channel from Pallikaranai in Kovalam basin to Buckingham canal near Injambakkam instead of Muttukadu, to provide quicker relief from inundation. The channel is likely to have the capacity to carry 3,000 cubic feet per second.
The JICA team suggested that major stakeholders should work together under one authority for comprehensive flood management in the city. Coordination between various stakeholders and funding agencies was sought to implement the master plan next year, the officials added.
These recommendations were discussed at a knowledge sharing meeting for various stakeholders, held in the city on Wednesday. S.K. Prabakar, Commissioner of Revenue Administration and Disaster Management; and K. Manivasan, WRD secretary; Baba Hitoshi, JICA senior technical advisor; and representatives from the Asian Development Bank, participated in the meeting.
B. Sakthivel, hydrologist and consultant, who works with various government agencies, said it was essential to address flood mitigation in catchment areas through steps such as desilting and capacity augmentation in waterbodies.
Pointing out that unplanned urbanisation had to be addressed, Mr. Sakthivel said urban flood retarding/retention basins must be created by strengthening rainwater harvesting measures. Underground storage facilities and sponge parks must be created to tackle inundation.
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