The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : KWA works may delay road project

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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

KWA works may delay road project

Sangeetha Unnithan

Pipe-laying on Pattom-Kowdiar stretch

Road works have been delayed by three months
Delay may cost government dear

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is not just the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)-aided project that is causing concern among officials of the City Road Improvement Project (CRIP). It now appears that CRIP works would get delayed due to pipe-laying works under the old scheme of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on some of the remaining stretches of the project.

CRIP officials realised this just a couple of weeks back when officials of the KWA informed them that road works along the Pattom-Kowdiar stretch may have to be delayed until the main water supply pipeline running under the road was replaced and shifted from its present position.

Road works along the stretch have already been delayed by more than three months due to pipe-laying works under the JBIC-aided scheme, CRIP officials said.

“We are not saying that this pipe-laying work is unnecessary, as it is absolutely important to shift the utilities towards the edge of the road to avoid road-cutting in the future. But if they had arranged this work earlier, this could have been done simultaneously with the JBIC work and saved precious time for the project,” said CRIP project engineer Ajith Mohammed.

However, KWA managing director C. Suresh Babu said the tender for the pipe-laying work had already been awarded.

“The tendering process for this work began around four months back and almost a month later the tender was awarded. The initial delay was in getting the funds released. Now the work is being delayed because the contractor has not yet received the Duty Exemption certificate from the Collector,” Mr. Suresh Babu said.

He added that works for laying the PVC pipes for distribution lines had already begun along the stretch.

The pipe-laying work under the old scheme on the Pattom-Kowdiar stretch, costing around Rs. 2 crore, includes replacing the current live pipe with 400-mm ductile iron pipe and shifting it close to the footpath. Once the new pipe is laid, the old main line will be abandoned. A KWA official said the work could be completed in 30 days.

The KWA and the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) have been holding discussions to coordinate the CRIP and JBIC works in order to avoid cutting of new roads. To achieve the objective, officials of the JBIC-aided project have formulated a schedule for timely completion of pipe-laying work.

However, road project officials said the pipe-laying works under the old scheme did not come up at any of the discussion.

Meanwhile, Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), a private consortium of companies implementing CRIP, reiterated that delay caused on road works would lead to major financial burden for the government.

Stalling of works for a single day under the City Road Improvement Project would cost around Rs.6 lakh, officials said .

Lack of co-ordination between the two departments had also led to stalling of work on the Marappalam bridge along the Pattom-Marappalam stretch.

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