Rs 1,250 cr sought for Mangaluru UGD, other works

Mangaluru: The Karnataka Legislature Committee on Public Undertaking (KPUC) noted that Rs 1,250 crore funding is needed for the comprehensive redevelopment of underground drainage (UGD) and other works in Mangaluru city.Committee chairman T Raghumurthy, along with other members of the committee, inspected various projects undertaken by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) and the Karnataka State Financial Corporation on Wednesday. The team reviewed several UGD and water supply works across the city.During the visit, the committee inspected the drainage system at Bejai Anegundi, the wet well at Kodialguthu, the sewage treatment plant (STP) at Madhya, Surathkal, and the Kandevu River in Surathkal. Residents near Bejai Anegundi raised concerns regarding issues related to the wet well in the area.Raghumurthy told reporters said that the committee had taken note of the problems affecting the city and would seek further details from officials before convening a meeting on the matter.Providing details of expenditure on infrastructure projects over the years, Raghumurthy said that under the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-1 project between 2000 and 2014, around Rs 218 crore was spent on UGD works. Under AMRUT-1 between 2018 and 2020, works worth an estimated Rs 150 crore were undertaken, of which works valued at only Rs 8 crore remain pending. The state govt sanctioned Rs 80 crore between 2018 and 2026 for various projects in the city. Overall, nearly Rs 450 crore has so far been spent on Mangaluru city’s UGD and water supply-related infrastructure through KUIDFC. In addition, under the Smart City project, around Rs 990 crore has been spent on 56 different works.Mangaluru City Corporation commissioner Ravichandra Naik said the city presently has an 850-km sewerage network comprising nearly 25,000 machine holes and 22 wet wells. Of this, around 250km of the network was constructed in 1961 and is now in a severely dilapidated and non-functional condition, with major leakages requiring urgent upgradation.He further said that around 360km of drainage network was laid under the ADB-1 project in 2005. However, apart from the existing 850-km drainage network, nearly 185km of the UGD network now requires upgradation, while another 180km of new network needs to be added. At present, only 65% of the MCC limits are covered under the UGD network, while the remaining 35% lacks connectivity. The proposed Rs 1,250 crore project is aimed at addressing these deficiencies through network expansion, upgradation and related works, he said.MLC Ivan D’Souza said the committee plans to submit an interim report on the issue to the govt during the next assembly session.