Major work on at Museum junction

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Yet another major work has commenced in the city as part of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-assisted water supply work. The work began at the Museum Junction a couple of days back. What is significant is that the pipeline would be laid across the road, that too using the jack and push method, wherein the pipes would be laid without cutting open the tarred surface. Also known as trenchless technology, this method is meant to do away with the inconveniences related to road-cutting. The work is part of the distribution network of the JICA project. The pipeline, the 1,116-mm Mild Steel (MS) pipe, would be pushed through the earth and it would reach the other side of the road, close to the telephone booth at the entrance of Museum, near the Museum Police Station.  “This line would be connected to the pipeline which we have already laid inside the Museum, under the walkway, from one entrance of the Museum to the other. That was laid some one-and-a-half years back. From the other entrance of the Museum (ie opposite the Corporation Office), it would reach the LMS and then the PMG. This distribution network is meant to take water from the reservoir which we have constructed as part of the JICA work at Observatory to Medical College and Veli areas ,” said an official with JICA. To start with, the labourers are making the casing pipe. Once it is ready, the MS pipes would be laid. The work is being carried out by Electrosteel.  Though underground utilities, such as cables and pipes, usually cause problem, in this case such a problem won’t be there. “We are laying the pipes at a depth of 4.25 m, and there is no utility laid at such a depth. Even the starting portion of the pipe is laid at a depth of 3 m,” an official pointed out. The total work is expected to take at least a month to get completed.