Kumbakonam Composite Local

Planning Authority

Kumbakonam (M) Asur(Inam) Perupandi(Inam),

Pandaravadai Perumpandi,
Pattanam, Muppakoil, Eragaram,
Melacavery,Swamimalai, Baburajapuram,
Saramanyakottayur, Velayapettai, Darasuram,
Cholamaligai, Thiruvalanjuli,
S.P.A Vadapattipadugai, Parriswaram, Annal
Agragaram, Pazhavathankattalai, Ullur

MINISTRY OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The Potential for PPPs in the

Water & Sanitation sector in
TamilNadu
An analysis of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)

February 09, 2010

Civil Engineering Department

Indian Institute of Technology Madras
I.I.T. Post Office, Chennai - 600 036, India
http://www.iitm.ac.in

I. KUMBAKONAM:
Kumbakinam is a special grade municipality town located 313 Kms from Chennai
on the south, 90 Kms from Trichy, and 40Kms from Thanjavur on the north-east.
This is a religious centre, with the presence of a large number of temples. It has
gained importance as a commercial and a small scale industrial centre during the
Nineteenth century. The town is bound by River Cauvery in the north and river
Aresalar on the south. Kumbakonam with a total land area of 12.5 sq.km has a
population of 1,80,000.

Financial
Ability of
the ULB
DemandSupply
Gap: Only 50%
of the assessed
properties have
HSC. High need for
proper composting
yard

End user
paying
capacity

Orientati
on
towards
PPP

Financial Ability of Kumbakonam:

There has been a growth in the operating surplus, mainly owing achieved by
growth in Grants/ Devolutions and assigned revenue. There has been very little
growth in the municipalitys own income. The town has a high debt record of INR
2,516 Lakhs. Though finance charges have come down to 6%, of the income over
the last 5 yrs, overall debt servicing will increase since the repayment of the INR
1700 Lakhs (for water supply) becomes due. Hence the financial position coupled
with the poor collection efficiencies seem to indicate that the ULB has a low level
of affluence.
End user Paying capacity:
Kumbakonam, being a special grade municipal town and a temple town in the
vicinity of a large-scale agricultural, does not have any industrial clusters within
the town. Owing to some geogrphical constraints in terms of limited land area
and so also industrial potential, there have been no industrial clusters set up in
the town.
The literacy rate of the people in the town is about 78%. Owing to the low
industrial potential and geographical constraints, there is a slow down in the
population growth in the town and most people currently are invoved in small
trading and commercial activities. Evidently, the people of this town are not

affluent enough to bear charges of basic commodities sych as water and

sanitation. So the end user paying capacity is low.
Demand Supply Gap:
Water supply: With River Cauvery in the north and Coleroon in thesouth, the town
appears to have adequate water supply in place for the future needs. With a
current water connection of 11,700 nos also, the town has been able to suffice
only 50% of the assessed properties, which indicates the scope for more
connections. Evidently the Demand supply gap for the house service connection
is high.
Sewage Disposal & Storm water drains: Currently, there is no UGD in place. NRCP
is assisting in implementing a UGD schemeto the tune of 105 Kms which
accounts to about 71% of the town and so will further need expansion to the
uncovered areas.
Further, the storm drains cover about 73% of the road length. Thus the demand
supply gap in the sanitation segment of this town can be infered to be medium
Solid Waste Management:
Of the total solid waste of 85 MT that is generated, about 88% is collected,
showing the need to improve the scope of door to door collection. There is no
proper solid waste disposal procedure. There is a need for more land of about 8.4
Acres, as against the existing 5.65 Acres for the compost yard The demand
supply gap in the SWM may be termed to be medium.
Orientation towards PPP:
1. History of PPP in town: There has been no implementation of Private
participation initiative in any service segment the town.
2. Collection efficiency: The collection efficiencey has been observed to be low
across all heads (Property tax, professional tax and user charges); (27% for
Water charges, 61% for property tax, 10% for arrers collection), which is a
major cause for concern.
3. User consumption-based charges levied: Though water charge has been
increased, they are levied on a flat basis for the residencial use. However,
they are charged on the basis of meter reading for commercial use, which
accounts to a meagre 1.6% of the total assessed connections
Since the ULB has not executed any PPP initiative till date and the collection
efficiency also being so low, the orientation of the ULB towards a PPP, by and
large seems low.

Inference:
With little or no funding options evidently available in the ULB a low end user
paying capacity, the project financing remains a question, unles the ULB
mobilises funds from other sources. Further, the orientation of the town towards
PPP seems rather low. Though the water supplied to commercial centres are

charged on the basis of the meter reading, 1.6% of the assessed conections is
rather too small an portion to guage the course of the ULBinterest in PPP.
Despite having a large demand supply gap, PPP may not be the most viable
option to fill this in, considering there is no financing capacity with the town and
its overall orienation towards PPP is rather low.

Kumbakonam Municipality

1,40,156 (2011)

Tamil Nadu
State Annual Action Plan (201516) Annual Action Plan for implementing the AMRUT Mission In Tamil Nadu

Kumbakonam Municipality

113 lpcd Per Capita Water

Supply AMRUT Cities

Kumbakonam Municipality

79
Coverage of Latrines in
Percentage

City profile and growth potential

Kumbakonam is a special grade municipal town,located 313 km from Chennai on the South, 90 km
from Trichy on the East, and 40 km from Thanjavur on the Northeast. The town is famous for
Mahamagam festival, which is celebrated once in 12 years.
The population growth has slowed down during the last couple of decades. This has primarily
been due to Kumbakonams geographical constraints in terms of limited land area and industrial
potential. Kumbakonam is a temple town in the vicinity of large-scale agricultural activity, which
supports trading and commercial activities. Thus there are limited avenues for primary activities
within the town. A significant 44% of the land is non-urban area due to the presence of rivers,
lakes, water bodies, agricultural land etc, while vacant areas accounts for less than 2 % of the land
available. Select interventions identified in the CCP in this regard are highlighted below