Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Tamil Nadu will see the inauguration of a many infrastructure projects in the state, The Union Minister will dedicate the Rs 380 crore Thervoy Kandigai reservoir in neighbouring Tiruvallur district, and lay the foundation stones for a slew of infrastructure projects worth over Rs 67,000 crore during his visit to Tamil Nadu on November 21, Saturday.
Also, Shah will lay the foundation stone for the phase II of Chennai Metro Rail at an estimated cost of Rs 61,843 crore. Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami would preside the inaugural function according to an official release issued on Tuesday. Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, ministers and officials would participate in the event.
The much-delayed reservoir in Tiruvallur district, formed by combining two lakes-- Thervoy Kandigai and Kannankottai, is expected to meet Chennai's additional requirement for drinking water. Spread across 1,495 acres, it will serve as the fifth reservoir for the city and may help avert drought-like situation.
It would facilitate the supply of 65 million litres a day (MLD) water to the city and the project will raise the combined storage of water in the lakes feeding the metro by 1,000 mcft, a Public Works Department (PWD) official said. At present the four main reservoirs--Poondi, Cholavaram, Redhills and Chembarambakkam have a total storage capacity of 11,257 mcft.
The new reservoir is a Rs 380 crore project that was first flagged off in 2013, expecting to be completed in 2015. But this project came to a standstill in just a year due to land acquisition problems. Water from this reservoir will be conveyed through 66 km long pipeline to Poondi reservoir, and from here it will be used to supply drinking water to the city. According to Water Resources Organisation, this additional storage will serve 30 days of drinking water supply to Chennai City.
Besides the phase II project of Chennai Metro Rail, Shah would also lay the foundation stones for the Coimbatore- Avinashi elevated expressway project, Indian Oil Corporation's petroleum terminal at Vallur and a Rs 1400 crore Lube Plant at Amullaivoyal among others, the release said.
(With inputs from PTI)