ADB, India Sign USD 251 mn Loan for Chennai’s Urban Flood Management

The Indian government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed USD 251 million loan agreement for integrated urban flood protection and management in the Chennai-Kosasthalaiyar river basin. The project aims to strengthen the city’s resilience to floods and reduce the vulnerability of its residents to frequent floods, which have destroyed property and livelihoods in recent years. The interventions will build disaster-resilient infrastructure to help communities cope with intensifying rainfall, a higher sea level rise, and a storm surge caused by cyclones, and protect lives, the economy, and the environment.

The project will construct 588 km of new stormwater drains, rehabilitate or replace 175 km of stormwater drains, improve 11 km stretches in the Ambattur, Ariyallur, Kadappakkam, and Korattur channels to enhance water-carrying capacity, and upgrade a stormwater pumping station and construct a new one. It will also construct 23,000 catchpits in roadside drains to recharge the groundwater aquifer and rehabilitate four disaster relief camps.

Chennai’s rapid urbanisation has encroached on the city’s natural landscape, reducing water retention capacity, which makes it vulnerable to widespread flooding. The project will establish climate-resilient urban flood protection infrastructure, and the innovative designs and interventions promoted by the project, along with integrated urban planning and enhanced municipal resource mobilisation, can be widely replicated for other Indian cities that are vulnerable to climate and disaster risks.

The project also aims to enhance stakeholders’ involvement, including the proactive participation of women in flood preparedness, by raising community knowledge and awareness of flood risks and impacts and its relationship with solid waste management, sewerage and the protection of water bodies.