Between 6-7 March 2019, the international and local experts of the City of 1000 Tanks team came together in Chennai for the third local workshop of the Water as Leverage programme. The two day programme included interactive working groups, an engaging walk through Mylapore organised by City of 1000 Tanks and presentations with Partners for Resilience, RVO and UN-Habitat under the direction of Henk Ovink, Special Envoy for International Water Affairs in the presence of the Marten van den Berg, the Dutch Ambassador to India.
The workshop was attended by government stakeholders like Dr. R. Nataraj, MLA Mylapore Constituency; Usha Kakarla, I.A.S., Managing Director – Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Ltd & Member-Secretary – Chennai River Restoration Trust; Dr. T. Prabhushankar, I.A.S.,Executive Director - Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board; and L. Nandakumar, Chief Engineer - Greater Chennai Corporation.
Through working sessions with representatives from WWF - World Wildlife Fund, we explored financing options for our project 'City of 1,000 Tanks'. We are now preparing for the next round of regional workshops in Singapore between 24-26 April 2019, where we will meet with Multilateral Development Banks to discuss prospects of financing for our projects.
Eva Pfannes from Ooze architects presents at the third local workshop in Chennai ©CynthiavanElk/WaterasLeverage
(from left) MLA Mylapore Dr. R. Nataraj, Eva Pfannes from Ooze Architects, Sudheendra N.K. from Madras Terrace and Prof. Balaji Narasimhan from IIT Madras in conversation during the third local workshop in Chennai ©CynthiavanElk/WaterasLeverage
Delegates representing the Local Legislative Assembly, Greater Chennai Corporation, Chennai River Restoration Trust, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board with the Dutch Ambassador to India, Dutch Special Envoy, Chief Resilience Officer of Chennai and members of the two teams in Chennai ©Rvo/WaL
Delegates at the third local workshop in Chennai ©CynthiavanElk/WaterasLeverage