The laying of the new 1,219-mm main pipeline to replace the old, leak-plagued one, will be completed by the first week of July, Water Resources Minister P J Joseph said on Wednesday.

The KWA also has announced that the work will, in all likelihood, be completed well ahead of the September deadline, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) said on Wednesday.

 The pipe is being laid from Aruvikkara, where the KWA pumping station is, to Peroorkada in the city. So far, the mild-steel (MS) pipe has been laid over 3.5 km, KWA Chief Engineer (distribution - south) Sreekumaran Nair said. The water utility has time till September 4 this year to complete the work, but it should be completed well ahead of the deadline as the work is progressing - including the water and air tests - fast, he said.

 There were reports that the project could be delayed, which prompted the KWA to come out with a clarification on Wednesday to ‘allay the fears’ of the public, the KWA said.

 The work has been awarded to M/s Laxmi Civil Engineering Service Pvt Ltd and the pipes are being supplied by Jindal SAW, the KWA said. 

In addition to quality checks by the company, the KWA also has entrusted ITENG Engineering, Mumbai, to conduct the checks as prescribed by ISI. The tenders for the project were invited on the advice of WASCON, the design unit of KWA, as per guidelines set by the CPHEEO Manual, KWA officials said.

 The MS pipe will be laid for a total of 9.695 kilometres to replace the old pre-stressed concrete pipeline on which the city depends for drinking water.

 The new pipeline is expected to solve the water supply woes of the capital city, which has been affected on multiple occasions in the past few months owing to leaks developing on the existing concrete pipeline.

In fact, the government has also announced a project to replace all the old pipelines within the capital city also.