Coimbatore Corporation will soon appoint an independent engineer-cum-project management agency to oversee the implementation of the 24x7 drinking water supply project.
Sources in the corporation said the civic body would soon float tender for the purpose and has readied the draft tender document. The role of the agency would be to study the 24x7 drinking water supply project contractor, Suez Waters’, work right from the study period till the end of execution.
The agency would study how the contractor had conducted the study, suggest changes if need be and its observations would be binding on the latter. Likewise, the agency would also monitor each and every aspect of the contractor’s execution - the pipeline alignment, quality of materials used, etc. - and also monitor the progress of the execution.
In case of faulty execution, the agency would suggest changes that the contractor would be obligated to carry out. In short, the agency’s observations would be binding on the contractor and only after it gave the clearance, would the corporation pay the contractor.
In case of disputes between the contractor and the corporation, the agency would also act as the first point of arbitration, the sources said.
The corporation’s contract with the contractor had scope for appoint of such an independent agency and it was in keeping with provision that it had planned to float tender for appointment of such an agency. The corporation’s appointing such an agency was also because it was difficult to monitor, on a day-to-day basis such a large and technical project, the sources also said.
Old wards
The corporation is executing the 24x7 drinking water supply project at ₹550 crore to revamp the existing water distribution network in the old 60 wards so as to bring about parity in distribution, plug leaks and automate the entire distribution network.
The corporation had appointed a similar agency to oversee the implementation of the projects executed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission - the underground drainage and storm water drain projects.
