KOCHI: Even as the City Corporation will soon give permission for road cutting for the City Gas project, the civic authorities are worried about its impact on the quality of roads. The cut in road restoration charges and lack of a proper monitoring system to review restoration works will deteriorate the quality of more than 890 kilometres of city roads, according to Deputy Mayor T.J Vinod. Though households in the city will get cooking gas through a pipeline, the city residents would have to bear the brunt of poor roads, he said.
“The roads which were cut in other municipal areas have not been properly restored. There is no proper mechanism to monitor the quality of restoration as the works are subleased to other agencies. The silt removed from the pit is reused to fill the trench which is against the norms. It will also affect the durability of the road,” the Deputy Mayor said.
Works Committee chairman P.M Haris also raised serious apprehensions over the condition of roads. The road has to be cut at a width of 1.5 metre and 6 feet depth which will completely damage it. “Permission for road cutting has to be given only after finalising a clear action plan on restoration of roads. The councillors and Corporation officials will be responsible if anybody approaches the court citing revenue loss and poor condition of roads,” said P.M Haris.
The City Corporation had entrusted the superintending engineer to prepare a technical report on the impact of road cutting. The Works Committee will re-examine the technical report and will discuss the technical and cost aspects before giving permission. Indian Oil-Adani Gas Private Limited has submitted an application seeking permission to trench 4 kms of road from Vyttila to Thevara.
Govt, Corp tussle shows failure of policy making
The tussle between the Kochi Corporation and the State Government over the rates to be charged from utilities such as telecom services providers, gas pipeline companies and other similar ventures engaged in cutting roads for laying cable and pipeline network shows the complete lack of coordination in public policy making by the authorities concerned. And the sufferers will be residents. The City Gas project, aimed at providing piped gas connections to Kochi residents and one of the first in South India, has been talked about for more than a decade.
Even so, the Corporation and state government authorities have not worked out elementary matters such as the amount to be charged from the company undertaking the underground pipeline network project crisscrossing the city roads. The Government and the Kochi Corporation have locked horns over the rate to be charged from the utilities for road cutting and the issue has been holding up the project for the past many months. The Corporation has fixed the charges at Rs 5,930 per sq metre for road reconstruction after cutting while the Public Works Department (PWD) rate is Rs 3,868.
The Indian Oil Adani Gas Pvt Ltd (IAGPL), the promoters of the project, is insisting on the PWD rate for the road cutting work as in the case of other civic authorities such as Kalamasseery and Thrikkakkara municipalities. The Corporation is batting for a higher rate citing the specificities of the soil condition in Kochi city. The main objection raised by the Corporation is the proposal for digging the road at six-metre depth and cutting it by 1.5 metre width by IAGPL. The digging and cutting of the road at such measurements will result in the collapse of the road in the particular stretch and it cannot be reconstructed with the amount fixed by the PWD.
Although the Corporation is making a valid point on the cost of reconstruction, the failure of the civic body to create proper awareness on the matter all these years makes city residents wonder. The state government on the other hand has not helped the situation by insisting on the PWD rate. The authorities concerned should have joined together by fixing the rate in union and conveyed it to IAGPL instead of engaging in a game of mutual blame.
