Date:19/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/19/stories/2008091955540600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

3,616 houses planned for tsunami-hit

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Finance Minister K.Anbazhagan laid the foundation stone for constructing houses for tsunami-affected people at a function held in Tiruvottiyur on Wednesday.

A total of 3,616 multi-storeyed apartments are to be constructed on the All India Radio (AIR) land for the tsunami-affected in Tiruvottiyur. The Slum Clearance Board would implement the project with Rs.90-crore funding from the World Bank under Emergency Rehabilitation Tsunami Project (ERTP). The construction is expected to be completed in 18 months.

Managing Director of the Board T.K. Ramachandran said most of the beneficiaries of the houses to be built in Tiruvottiyur would be drawn from hutments along the Ennore Expressway. Their rehabilitation will also make way for the expansion of the Expressway, he said. Sources in the Slum Clearance Board said temporary shelters were being constructed on the stretch along the Marina between Nochikuppam and Srinivasapuram so that the existing old tenements there could be demolished and rebuilt.

Secretary to the Department of Housing and Urban Development R. Sellamuthu said another 2064 houses would be constructed in Okkiyam Thoraipakkam for those evicted from the slums in the city. Funds from Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission would be utilised for this purpose. He added that 20,000 more houses would be built by the Slum Clearance Board in Perumbakkam on the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

Speaking at the event, Mr.Anbazhagan explained the government’s decision to rehabilitate the tsunami-affected, away from the seaside. “The sea is rising due to global warming and the government feels it is not safe to allow people to live very close to it,” he said. He said the government would undertake further construction of groynes along the Ennore Expressway as it is badly affected by sea erosion.