Posted on July 4, 2017
Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) plans to undertake dredging of Kankra creek in two phases. The dredging of the 4.5 km creek area would be done at the cost of Rs 10.5 crore for increasing its water carrying capacity. The sand and muck from the creek will be used for filling up land on both sides of the creek to make land usable.
This is for the first time that SMC has decided to undertake dredging in creek area in years. This exercise has multiple benefits. Not only will it increase the water carrying capacity in the creek during monsoon, but the sand dredged out could be used in levelling and development of land around the creek near Udhna and Athwa zones.
An official from drainage department of SMC said, “The dredging will be done in two phases which will generate more than 1.83 lakh cubic metre of sand and will be used in levelling up 1.23 lakh sq m and 1.05 lakh sq metres embankment land in Udhna and Athwa. The land valued at Rs 74.36 crore and Rs 94.91 crore will then be available for SMC use.”
SMC plans to develop gardens and other recreational spaces on both sides of the creek along with a green zone.
Ideally, this dredging exercise would be undertaken during the monsoon as it would be easy to dredge when there is water available in the creek. According to the proposal put forth in the standing committee, the dredging exercise would be completed in six months.
Standing committee is likely to approve the dredging proposal during its meeting this week.
Source: The Times of India
