The residents of Pammal and Anakaputhur would soon heave a sigh of relief from the digging of roads as the Tambaram Corporation is set to finally complete the underground drainage (UGD) project by April.

The UGD project, though initiated several years ago by the Pammal Municipality, was launched only after it was merged with the Tambaram Corporation in 2021. 

S. Balachander, Commissioner of Tambaram Corporation, said the ₹211-crore UGD project was being executed in two packages covering 11 wards in Pammal and Anakaputhur.

In Anakaputhur except for a few finishing works all civil works have been completed, whereas in Pammal installing pipes for evacuating through gravity is the only pending work while all other civil works to an extent of 95% completed, he said.

The Chief Secretary has been regularly holding meetings to review the progress of the project which is on the verge of completion with the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin set to launch it once the commissioning report is given, he added. 

The UGD project involved laying pipelines for a stretch of 50 kms covering 389 streets in Anakaputhur and 100 kms covering 877 streets in Pammal and the setting up of two sewage treatment plants. As part of the project, the corporation has proposed to install machine holes rather than the traditional manholes in 2,212 places in Pammal and 768 places in Anakaputhur. 

The two packages were allotted to two different contractors – VVV Constructions for constructing the Pammal UGD scheme and the Anakaputhur stretch being executed by Keyem Infra Project. As per the project work, the construction of internal chamber, installation of pipes and machine hole erection, have been completed. 

To prevent the mistake of repeated damages caused in older sewage project in Pallavaram and Chromepet (the UGD was executed by erstwhile Pallavaram Municipality), the corporation has gone for double wall corrugated (DWC) pipes against the traditional stoneware pipes which could develop cracks leading to sewage leaks. Also, the latest technology of precast machine holes instead of the concrete manholes, which would normally take a lot of days for construction and curing, has been employed to prevent delays and damages. 

For the UGD project, the Tambaram Corporation has also constructed two pumping stations comprising one in Pammal and another in Anakaputhur for collecting and treating the sewage.