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.
