Chennai, Aug 22:
The Tamil Nadu government is considering a ₹876.35-crore plan to revive navigation along a 7.2-km stretch of the Buckingham Canal, proposing electric boats, floating restaurants, walkways and commercial spaces while also addressing sewage pollution and flood management.
The pilot project, covering the stretch from Napier Bridge to the Adyar River, proposes eight electric boats with a capacity of 20 passengers each. The tentative fare is ₹50 per passenger. Two floating restaurants are also planned.
The project aims to transform the canal into a multi-purpose urban waterway combining passenger transport, flood mitigation, sewage treatment and waterfront development.
A major challenge is sewage pollution. A 2023 survey identified 19 sewage outfalls, discharging an estimated 48.17 million litres of sewage daily into the central stretch. The detailed project report proposes diverting sewage from 17 outfalls to treatment plants with capacities of 43 MLD at Swami Sivananda Salai and 8 MLD at Greenways Road.
The plan also includes 2.05 lakh cubic metres of dredging, reconstruction of about 11.6 km of flood walls and installation of lock gates at the canal’s junctions with the Cooum and Adyar rivers.
Twenty-three bridges have been identified as hydraulic bottlenecks, with clearance falling to around three metres at some locations. MRTS pillars at Mandaiveli and Greenways Road could also pose challenges to navigation.
As part of flood management, underground cut-and-cover drains and two straight-cut channels costing an estimated ₹295.58 crore have been proposed. The works are projected to reduce the flood-affected area by around 45 per cent.
The project would require rehabilitation of 4,924 families occupying about 11.4 acres within the canal’s right of way. The indicative rehabilitation cost is ₹107 crore, though biometric verification of affected families is yet to be completed.
The proposed revenue model estimates annual earnings of ₹77.14 crore against operating expenses of ₹30.44 crore. Sale of 34 MLD of treated wastewater to industrial and commercial users is expected to contribute ₹49.64 crore annually, with additional revenue projected from boating, floating restaurants, parking, retail leases, fisheries, solid-waste processing and water credits.
The Buckingham Canal forms part of National Waterway 4, which links Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh with Puducherry. The long-term vision is to integrate the canal into a proposed 55-km inland waterway connecting Chennai Central with Kovalam and Mahabalipuram.
If implemented, the project could give Chennai a new waterfront and water-transport corridor. However, sewage interception, rehabilitation, bridge constraints, MRTS infrastructure and funding remain key hurdles before regular navigation can become a reality.