The Hindu 24.05.2013
Sewage plant to go on stream on June 30
Muttathara unit to process 40 million litres a day.
Electrical works for the Muttathara sewage treatment
plant have been completed and the unit would be commissioned on June 30,
said sources associated with the funding agency, Kerala Sustainable
Urban Development Project (KSUDP). The pre-commissioning activities will
begin by the second week of June. Officials hope that the plant would
start functioning from July 15 after one-month trial phase.
The
KSUDP empowerment committee meeting was held on Wednesday. It was
decided to re-tender the works associated with the branches for the
expansion of the sewerage network. This, they said, would not impact the
completion of construction activities at the plant and that by
mid-July, the modern plant would begin processing 40 million litres a
day, which is being collected from the city at present. This existing
network would include only 35 per cent of the area within the
Corporation limits.
The plant, which is
Centrally-funded under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission (JNNURM), will have capacity of 107 MLD. To reach this figure,
the network would have to be laid out to all peripheral wards. The
entire network cannot be taken up during the year, but may take up to
five years. Hence, this would figure under the next phase of JNNURM.
The
Empowerment Committee includes the five Corporation Mayors, who
boycotted the meeting in protest against, what they claimed, was the
dominance of officials and the sidelining of democratically elected
representatives. Mayor K. Chandrika told
The Hindu
that the tenders should be awarded now as the funds would lapse in March 2014
Ajit
Kumar, KSUDP project director, explained that tenders had to be
recalled as the verification of estimate costs revealed that they were
on the higher side. For instance, as per the 2012 Schedule of Rates, the
cost of stoneware pipes is Rs. 65 a unit and the estimate prepared by
contractors quoted Rs. 97. This would run into crores of rupees.
Moreover, even if they were to award tenders immediately, the monsoon
would impede any development and therefore they can use those two months
to recast the estimates and analyse the bids.