The Hindu 21.06.2010
Work to provide box culvert to be delayed
Rajesh B. Nair
| PWD entrusted a contractor with the work on November 27, 2009 |
— Photo: T. Singaravelou 
unfinished: The box culvert underneath the extended portion of the airport runway in Puducherry.
PUDUCHERRY: The work to provide a box culvert to accommodate the sewer line underneath the extended portion of the airport runway here is going on at a slow pace.
The Public Works Department entrusted a contractor with the work to construct the box culvert on November 27, 2009, after the sewer line got damaged during runway extension work.
As per the work order, the contractor was expected to complete the work before May 27 this year. Inquiries by The Hindu revealed that only 50 per cent of work was complete. It would take at least three more months for the works to be completed.
Directive to contractor
When contacted, a senior official of the Public Works Department told The Hindu that the contractor had been asked to speed up the work. “We wanted to complete the work by August. The delay was owing to special nature of the work.
“The ductile pipe, which carries sewage, has to be specially ordered. The pipe is of one-metre diameter,” the officer said.
Once the box culvert is ready, the damaged portion of the runway has to be filled with sand before repairing the runway.
It was reliably learnt that the Airports Authority of India had asked the territorial administration to bear the expenditure towards filling the damaged portion.
The expenditure of the culvert work, Rs. 9.31 crore, would be borne by the Puducherry Tourism Department.
After approval from the government, the Tourism Department had approached the Housing Urban Development Corporation to sanction Rs 9.31 crore as loan, officials said.
The civil works for expanding the 1,280-metre runway by another 220 metre were suspended at the airport in March last year after the sewer line was damaged. But for the damaged portion of the runway, other expansion works have already been completed, they said.
