Households to be given UGD connection within 2 weeks

Coimbatore: Without waiting for the residents to pay the deposit amount, the city corporation has decided to connect household sewers to the underground drainage (UGD) system.
“The corporation is in the process of finalizing contractors for the work and once it is done, work orders will be issued to commence the internal plumbing work. It is expected to start within two weeks,” a senior corporation official said.

Though the works will begin simultaneously at several wards, Ukkadam area will get priority so as to prevent inflow of domestic sewage into the lakes at Ukkadam, the official said. “We want to complete the UGD project at Ukkadam before the water treatment part of the lake restoration and rejuvenation project commences. Earlier, we had planned to carry out the plumbing work using corporation workers. But as the work was time consuming and moving at a snail’s pace, we decided to give the work to contractors. We are planning to select six contractors to complete the work as soon as possible,” he said.

As waiting for the residents to pay the deposit amount was delaying the project, the corporation had obtained a soft loan worth Rs 36crore from the state government to do the plumbing work, the official said. “Irrespective of whether a resident had paid the sewage deposit amount or not, connections will be established. The deposit will be received in 10 instalments.”

The deposit amount and UGD charges vary as per the property tax. “Those who are paying between Rs 501 and Rs 1,000 as property tax will have to pay Rs 3,200 as service charge per year and Rs 10,000 as deposit,” he added.