The three pipe bursts in quick succession on two busy road corridors of the City Roads Improvement Project (CRIP) has once again exposed the lack of planning and coordination among the agencies concerned.
The bursts in the 400-mm distribution line of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) at Pottakuzhi on the CRIP corridor 9, from Pattom to Uloor, via Medical College, and near Marappalam on Corridor 8, from Pattom to Kowdiar, could have been avoided if the KWA had removed the pipes laid in 1972 before the concessionaire commenced the work.
An official of Thiruvananthapuram Road Development Company Ltd. (TRDCL), the concessionaire of CRIP, said they waited for one year for the KWA to relay the pipes underneath the road. The KWA did not respond, forcing the concessionaire to commence work, sources said.
Frequent bursts
The bursts were now frequent; causing damage to the road. The laxity in plugging the leak was causing a major loss to the exchequer and hardship to the citizens.
“The pipe burst at Pottakuzhi is a classic example of the delay on the part of the KWA. The extent of damage to the road could have been reduced if the leak was detected and plugged earlier. It resembles a bomb blast site,” he said.
In Pottakuzhi, as much as 80 metres of road had been damaged.
The entire width of the road in this stretch needed to be re-laid as per the prescribed standards. Going by the current norms, this would incur a cost of Rs.80 lakh.
Nearly 100 metres of road had been damaged at Marappalam. The said amount would be needed here for restoration.
The Kerala Road Fund Board would have to provide money to the concessionaire for the work.
The restoration work would commence once the KWA gave the nod, source said.
As many as 12 leaks in the distribution line of the KWA in the adjoining Murinjapalam-Kumarapuram stretch was also the source of trouble for the concessionaire, sources said.
