GHMC discusses laying of common cable duct

GHMC plans to construct the final duct along the corridors of the HMR route and charge the service providers at the calculated rate per sq km. The rate would be decided considering the expenditure incurred for laying the same

A meeting was held at the GHMC Commissioner’s office on Saturday regarding the provision of a common cable duct. Stake holders and members of the committee constituted by the government were present to examine and consider the proposal of technical feasibility, costing and designing of the duct. The meeting was attended by 26 representatives from different service providers like Vodafone, Tata, Idea, Aircel, Fibertel, Digicable, Siticable etc.

GHMC commissioner, M T Krishna Babu presided over the meeting and explained about the proposed ducts for carrying power and communication cables and the need and importance of locating them at the centre of the road. Various decisions were taken after a detailed discussion.

Selected representatives from service providers, who are technically conversant with the system of cables and their details could discuss with the GHMC officials and fine tune the cross section of the proposed duct with regard to the size, shape, number of cables, diameter of the proposed cables etc. Also, the GHMC plans to construct the final duct along the corridors of the HMR route and charge the service providers at the calculated rate per sq km. The rate would be decided considering the expenditure incurred for laying the same.

With regard to the rate, it would be calculated for the entire length of that corridor and the applied agency would take responsibility for the cost irrespective of the fact that the cable was laid for a part length or whole length of the corridor.

Incentives would be given on a first come first serve basis and charged at the calculated rate based on the expenditure incurred. For the agencies who apply later, they would be charged at the discretion of the GHMC.

An operation and maintenance operator would be selected based on tender basis every year and he would be given charge of the operations and maintenance of the ducts for that particular year.

The project work will be entrusted to INCAP for a detailed study and preparation of detailed project report. They would act as a transaction adviser and also study the potential for laying the number of cables in each and every major road of the city. They will also have the responsibility of suggesting the mode of execution of the project ie in PPP mode on BOT or by GHMC itself.

A team of officials from GHMC along with the representatives of FACO (Federation of Arial Cable Operators) will visit Chennai, Calcutta and other cities to finalise the method of construction of the proposed duct.

D Ronald Rose, IAS, Additional Commissioner (Planning), R Dhan Singh, Engineer-in-Chief, Chinna Reddy, Superintending Engineer (R&B), Srimannarayana, Superintending Engineer, GHMC and different stake holders of ducting participated in the meeting.