Work on direct pipeline project may start in September.

Work on the ambitious Kalammawadi direct pipeline project to supply clean and regular water to the city is likely to start in September as the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation recently finalised the GKC Projects Limited for execution of the project.

The contractor has been finalised six months after the tenders were issued for the first time in January. The Hyderabad-based GKC company had quoted around 18% above the initial project cost, which was reduced to 15.72%.

Owing to the cost escalation, the civic administration had, last month, sent the project to the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) to revise the cost. The MJP revised the cost to around Rs. 484 crore, around Rs. 59 crore higher than the sanctioned cost of Rs. 425 crore.

Manish Pawar, chief hydraulic engineer of the KMC, said, 'Despite the revision, the quoted amount was around Rs 5 crore higher than the project cost. After tough negotiations with the company in the last two days, we have been able to convince it to bring down the cost to Rs. 488.74 crore, which is around 0.95% above the revised cost. The project will now be sent to the standing committee for final approval.'

TOI