Minjur desalination plant had no proper plan?

CHENNAI: The Minjur desalination plant was built without a detailed project report, and the comparative cost benefit of implementing the project through other public private partnership modes was not worked out before deciding to set it up on a design, build, own, operate and transfer (DBOOT) basis, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report.The report said that due to non-revision of water charges by Metro Water, the entire cost of purchase of desalinated water at `48.66 per kilo litre had to be borne by the government. It stated that an avoidable expenditure of `6.95 crore had been incurred by Metro Water on electricity charges.  Metro Water surrendered 44.56 acres of surplus land to Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation in 2009 but neither the value of the land nor an equal area of alternate land had been obtained from TIDCO, the report added.