The objective of developing and redesigning St. Mark’s Road under TenderSure (Specifications for Urban Road Execution) seems to have come to naught, with a manhole right in the carriageway on the stretch leading to Residency Road.
As per the TenderSure norms, all utilities were supposed to be shifted to either side of the road where utility ducts are under the footpath. This was designed so to ensure that the carriageway is not dug up for any utility repairs by any civic agency.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which changed the pipelines on the road, has failed to ensure that the manhole is also in the utility duct.
Officials of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), who are monitoring the TenderSure project, conceded to The Hindu that the BWSSB officials had not informed them about their plans to change the pipelines.
“Had they informed us before, we could have modified the plans slightly to accommodate the changes. But they claimed that the pipeline change was inevitable,” the official said, adding that the pipeline was now a sufficient depth. He also said that once the road is laid, the manhole would be flushed with the proposed road level and would not pose any obstruction to vehicular movement.
BBMP Administrator T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, who recently took charge, said that he would look into the issue.
BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkatraju said the utility had encountered a lot of technical issues while shifting and changing the pipelines. He said that the problem was only for the 200-m length – from SBI junction to Cash Pharmacy. “We had discussed this with BBMP officials. With the new pipeline in place, there will be no leakages or any damages and thus, the road need not be dug again,” he said.