Sewerage project's final 200-m lap still a struggle as deadline nears

PANAJI

While most of the other projects such as the smart roads, redesigning of pavements and the likes are on course for completion, the tail-end stretch of the sewerage project from Taad Maad temple in Tonca-St Inez to the Sewage Treatment Plant remains a challenge for officials of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited to beat the March 31 deadline.

A senior IPSCDL said efforts had initially borne fruit on this difficult stretch with 12 metres of the 200-metre main trunks sewerage pipeline laid near the Taad Maad Temple area.

This last stretch integrates the entire city's sewerage system from Taad Maad Temple to the treatment plant. It is approximately 200-metres in length and a high water table has made executing the work a challenging task needing frequent dewatering (pumping out of water) of the trenches dug to lay the pipeline.

"It (pumping out of water) consumes valuable time. Sometimes the entire day is lost to pumping out the water. To lay the 710-mm diameter trunk line we have to dig the trenches to a depth of 12 metres where working conditions are difficult," the IPSCDL official said.

Additionally, two more sewerage manholes, house connection chambers, utility chambers, ducts, essential crossings and the concrete road with designer footpaths are being worked on simultaneously along this 200-metre stretch.

The official said, the soil in this area is soft and sandy making work all the more difficult with the risk of land-slips soil collapsing high. Also since the work is being carried out at depths of 10 to 12 metres under the ground the operations must be stopped at sundown to ensure the safety of the workforce, he added.

Elsewhere in the city meanwhile, work to connect the sewerage chambers built earlier, is nearing completion along the two major roads bordering the CCP market complex -- General Bernard Guedes Road from Geeta Bakery to the DB Marg near Inox.

The new sewerage being built for the entire city entailed construction of 251 manholes in the main city area. 

Another 72 manholes have been built covering a 3-km stretch of the sewerage line in St Inez area which is fully completed.

In the Ribandar area, the length of the sewerage line is roughly 9.6 kilometres and is also fully completed, including the 300 manholes.

In the Fontainhas area, 73 manholes along a 2.20 km stretch of the sewerage line have been constructed and along the 3.30 km sewerage line in Mala,  110 manholes are built.

The 2.8-kilometre Miramar-Caranzalem area sewerage line is also fully completed involving the construction of 91 manholes and in the Altinho area work on the sewerage line of about 450 metres with 18 manholes has also ended.

Restoration of the roads where trenches and pits were dug to construct the manholes and lay the pipeline is also completed to the extent of 90 per cent.

"Roads are left to be restored only in those areas where pipeline laying work is still going on," the official said, adding that the March 31 deadline will be met, except for the final 200-metre stretch of the sewerage system where work may spill over for a few days.