World Bank PPP Final Project

1. For centuries, Cooum has been an integral part of the socio-economic and cultural life of the city of Chenna Pattinam (aka Madras and now Chennai).
2. Till the early twentieth century, it was a clean river, most suitable for navigation.
3. Archaeological evidences prove that, in ancient times, it played a pivotal part in the far-flung maritime trade between the Roman empire, South India, Sri Lanka as well as China.
4. Scholarly manuscripts such as Thevaram sung by the Saivite saint Thirugnanasambandar provide evidence to the practice of bathing in this river prior to worship in centuries old temples located along the banks of this river up until late eighteenth century.

1. The might of this river is highlighted by the Buckingham Canal project commissioned by the British in 1710 to save the city of Madras from repeated inundation.
2. The river has a peak flow capacity of 21,500 cubic meters per second (760,000 cu ft/s).
3. Rapid increase in urban population and corrupt and immature local governments approved several new reservoirs (with intents to siphon-off money) thereby reducing flow of fresh water into the river.
4. The sluggish flow of water resulted in the buildup of silt and sand bars at the mouth of the river along the Bay of Bengal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooum_River

1. Unplanned indiscriminate (money-making) house constructions, factories and businesses run by the well connected, and encroachment by slum dwellers (vote banks) contributed to the discharge of sewage, effluents and filth into the once glorious river.
2. The present water quality is so bad that a study undertaken by the World Bank revealed it is 80 percent more polluted and toxic than treated sewer. The water has almost no dissolved oxygen. Fish were able to survive in the water for only 3 to 5 hours even after the samples were diluted.
3. Government estimates show nearly 30 per cent of the estimated 55 million litres (15,000,000 US gal) of untreated sewage and an additional 7 tons of municipal solid waste is being dumped into the river every single day.

1. Helped by the 2004 tsunami that cleaned the mouth of the river, the three days of torrential rains in November 2005 flushed out all of these enormous waste and cleaned up the river for a brief period

2. Egrets and cormorants too were cited flocking the river to feast on fish; however, the river returned to its usual polluted self within a short period

3. Nature proved to us that it is still possible to return this river to its old glorious days of nurturing a sound eco-system with rare species of birds, reptiles and other creatures once dotted along the bank of this river

1. It is unclear who will bell the cat – is it the Chennai Corporation, responsible for storm drains, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, the Chennai Metro Water and Sewerage Board, or the Public Works Department?

2. When everyone is “responsible"…. you guessed it.

3. A hard-hitting integrated effort with accountability is badly needed. It is time to treat the problem with a genuine emergency.

• 1872-90 Planning activities and earliest recorded proposal during the British rule
• 1967-68 ₹19 million Cooum Improvement Scheme with objectives to install a regulator and a sand pump at the river mouth
• 1973-74 ₹22 million Cooum recreational facility development project. It ended with the sand pump developing snags
• 1996-01 ₹12,000 million Chennai City River Conservation Project (CCRCP). Once again failed due to lack of enforcement along the 54 Kilometers (34 miles) stretch of the river outside the city limits of Chennai

1. No urgency, desire or committment from the ruling class to complete the project any time soon. Allowing this project to fester means repeated allocation of funds to “resettle”“ affected people (aka vote banks) from time-to-time
2. No meaningful participation or contribution by the Private Enterprise for almost 50-years. This project is monopolised by vested interests, to say the least
3. MoUs signed with foreign advisors are never to be taken seriously… They exist only to facilitate foreign travel for the chosen few…
4. No consistent policies to carry the project further… Change of government means cancellation of projects started by the previous government…

The nexus between money, politics and vested interests is such that this project has become a toy in the hands of the ruling class to generate cash for the next election cycle. The risk factors are so high that Cooum may have to wait for another century before one can ride a boat on its waters….