HE the Minister of Works, Municipalities & Urban Planning Eng. Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf visited Nabih Saleh Sewerage and Storm Water Drainage Network Project, which covers Blocks 380, 381 and 382.
During the tour, which was also attended by Sanitary Engineering Planning & Projects Director Eng. Asma Murad and Chief of Constructions Department Enf. Dawood Khalaf, the Minister and his companions listened to a detailed explanation about the obstacles that have been hindering implementation.
Eng. Khalaf promised to work on overcoming all difficulties and strive to find solutions to continue work on the project and reduce inconvenience to the residents. He also reiterated the need to commence paving all the areas at which work completes, following the connection of houses to the sewerage network.
Progress in the project has now reached 60%. The BD4,740,178 project was awarded to Jalal Al A’Ali & Sons, while supervision is being done M.W.H Khonji.
The delay in implementation occurred due to changing the location of the pumping station from the original location agreed upon in the contract, which resulted in some delay; waiting for the needed consents.
However, the Ministry has taken the necessary measures to minimize the impact of the delay on the island’s residents; by connecting houses to the network without waiting for the completion of the pumping station, as what had been done in previous projects.
The project manager Eng. Nasser Montaser explained that a total of 364 houses are to be connected to the network as part of the project, 248 of which have already been connected and 116 houses remain.
An average of 30-40 houses is connected each month. The pumping station is 12m deep, and is being constructed using cylindrical concrete pillars of 14.5m in depth.
The pillars are being compacted circularly, while the diameter of the circular construction is 19m, where excavation within the circle is done at a depth of 12m.
The Minister stressed the need to continue meeting with the parties involved in the implementation of the project in order to expedite work. The length of the pipes involved in the project is expected to amount to 26km.
