The Hindu 22.04.2013
Corporation plans to lay PVC pipes
The Corporation, in a bid to improve its drinking water
distribution system, has decided to replace the 30-year old iron pipes
with Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) rigid pipes to prevent leakages that
cause huge loss of water in the water-starved urban civic body.
As
the old iron drinking water distribution pipes cannot withstand even a
slight increase in pressure being given to take drinking water to the
tail-end areas, it resulted in huge loss of water almost everyday. To
avoid this, the Corporation decided to replace the iron pipes with High
Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) distribution pipes, which can withstand
even high pressure while effectively taking water to the distribution
points without any problem.
However, the recent
unprecedented increase in the prices of HDPE raw material caused steep
hike in the pipe cost, forcing the contractors to quote higher price for
executing the work, worth about Rs. 3 crore. As the price quoted by the
bidders was much higher than the ‘schedule of rate’ fixed by the TWAD
Board, a pre-bid meeting was organised recently.
But
the aspirants were still reluctant of going ahead with the contract and
explained the reason behind their hesitation. Having understood the
problem involved in the assignment, the Corporation has decided to lay
rigid PVC pipes instead of going in for HDPE pipes after getting expert
opinion in this connection.
If this decision gets the
council’s nod, iron distribution pipes will be replaced in 26 places at
the cost of Rs. 3 crore, Corporation sources said.
