I, along with enginneers of PHED, Hidco and Simplex visited the alignment from the intake point near Kashipur to BTRoad, Tallah Bridge, Kolkata Station, VIP Road and New Town. It is a challenging project - considering the congestion and traffic of Kolkata - but eminently do-able. Here is a photo:
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| At the Intake Point at Kashipur Inset: With Local Coucillor |
Following up on our London visit, Mr Nigel Austin, MD, Arup India, met me at Hidco today. We discussed about the Iconic Tower Project at the Financial Hub. I explained that applications already made in response to EOI were being evaluated by an expert Committee and was expected to be finalised upon the return of the Chairman from abroad. I however, learnt a few things about architectural requirement of International Financial Companies.
Here is a picture with Mr Austin:
Here is a clipping from yesterday's Bartaman:
Really it's a challenging job to be implemented under a very big project. Since an Intake Jetty has been planned to be built by M/s Simplex at Hoogly, it is very likely that the Intake Pump House shall be Off-Shore Type. Construction of such Off-Shore Pump House is also something special. Pipeline NB may be around 1800 MM which needs to be laid from Kashipur up to New Town for the transportation of raw water for subsequent treatment at New Town WTP. For such treatment, I suggest to consider Ultra HRSCC followed by UF-RO System. Such scheme can be accommodated within much more lesser space compared to conventional Pre/Post Treatment Scheme normally in use for decades and decades.
ReplyDeleteI have few more suggestions based on my 36 years experience in Projects (22 years) and O & M (14 years):-
1. Simplex should explore all possible avenues for immediate commencement of Civil Work at Kashipur Intake Jetty Point for the best utilisation of the available dry period of the year till June, 2013 (4 months). Then the outdoor work is likely to be slowed down during monsoon till October, 2013
2. Special emphasis is to be given by PHED for approval of relevant Civil Drawings by the Consultant across the table within March, 2013 positively. First hand approval of Layout/GA Drawings (minimum Action-3 status) of Intake Pump House is to be ensured within this month for commencement of work by next March
3. Project Monitoring should be very stringent by a dedicated team of PHED/Consultant to adhere to the project schedule with an objective to arrest any possible slippage using MS Project or Primavera Software
4. I am ready to extend any possible help/services (honorary) for the said challenging project, if sought for
Sir, you are doing an amazing work for getting the central funds for the state; whether it is for Sagar Island tourism promotion through NGRBA or for the JNNURM projects. People will remember you for years to come.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr Dey that PHED and Simplex should start work as soon as possible as we have used already around six months for paper work like tenders, pre-bid consultations, technical evaluation, administrative appraisal, and letter of intent. As well know, administrative delay makes the cost to shoot up.
Good to hear about the subway in AA1. Perhaps we will need few more in upcoming days near the IT zone in AA3.
A large number of tenders have been floated for road construction in and around New Town. Lets get through the administrative processes soon and execute a sizeable chunk of the work before monsoon.
About the 30 MGD Dhapa Treatment Plant, I have a few observations.
DeleteFirstly, work for pipelines and stuffs for Comprehensive Distribution Network within the command zone of 30 MGD Dhapa Water Treatment Plant has hardly started. KMDA website itself tells that we have made a progress of 9% in last few years.
http://www.kmdaonline.org/html/phys-prog_uig.php
Secondly, are such small capacities enough for 24*7 water supply in such a big catchment area with such a large population aound EM Byepass? Particularly when we are fortunate to have a perennial river like Ganga, why are we building such small capacities?
I will cite the example of Bangalore. Cauvery is literally as wide as a nullah / big drain and situated 100 km away from bangalore at a much lower elevation. Even then , when water is being brought upstream, a small section of water supply project, which started working last year, ( Cauvery STAGE 4 , Phase-2) is of capacity 500 MLD or say 150 Mgd.
What is the size of New Town water treatment plan and how much water are we planning to draw from Ganga every day?
I think we should not be considering current population but a population of at least around 20-30 Lakh including the surrounding villages , say 15 years from now, for whom we need to give 24*7 water supply.
Cauvery News link:
Deletehttp://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/shettar-to-inaugurate-cauvery-iv-stage-phase-ii/article4050002.ece
Dear Sir, Its really good to have subway or overbridge near major raod crossing points. I think its needed in many more places in Newtown as well as other parts of Kolkata for pedestrians safety. Also keeping provision for some shops along the subway increases the possibility that more people will use it. CCTV should also be installed at the entry and exit points to safty reasons.
ReplyDeleteWe really need to make sure subways or foot-bridges are made convenient to use...if people realizes the danger of not using it or crossing road is designed to be blocked by barricades, more people will start using it. Can we consider supplementing subways or foot-bridges with escalators at least at some most-busy junctions?
DeleteSir, I have a simple solution that could help in minimizing the water-logging problem in the underpasses.
ReplyDeleteA sealed tank should be built near the under pass. The tank should be at a lower level than the bottom of the underpass. A drainage pipe should connect the tank with the underpass. This drainage system should be completely isolated and should not be connected with any other drainage system. Whenever there is rain the water will automatically flow to the tank and the underpass will remain dry. A pump can also be fitted in the tank so that whenever the water level in the tank reaches a certain level it can be pumped out. The larger the tank the better it will be. In case of new underpasses, the tank can be made right below the underpass and if becomes a success these type of system can also be build under some of the existing underpass.
One place where this could be tried out first is the underpass near the Belur station. That underpass easily gets filled with water and is also very narrow, so a small tank would suffice. Apart from that there is also plenty of space available nearby, though I think the land belongs to the Railways.
If properly done I think this will help a lot in solving the problem of water logging.
A "sump" with a pumping arrangement is a standard engineering practice for all underground structures like metro, subway, tunnels etc. See wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sump_pump
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