[Assam] Brahmaputra islands to provide landfill

Tue Jun 17 22:19:04 PDT 2008

Dear Uttamda

While preparing the estimates they must have simply added the CPWD rates for
land filling.

On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 10:20 AM, uttam borthakur <
uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in> wrote:

> Dilip Da
>
> I am at one with your opinion.Nothing can be better. But you asked about
> the downside. So, the skeptic in me wanted to know what has gone into that
> estimate, if they did not do their homework about the source and delivery of
> the land-fill before preparing it. This project is on the works for so many
> years; could not they have consulted the state government about the
> possibility while making the estimate itself? Even at the estimate level,
> all known factors are to be considered and it should not be on whimsy. If
> they are so callous, then they are not serious about the project's success
> or they have some other motives giving them the elbow room to indulge in
> another scam. That is what I thought.
>
>
> Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
> --- On Wed, 18/6/08, Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> From: Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Brahmaputra islands to provide landfill
> To: uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in, "A Mailing list for people interested in
> Assam from around the world" <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Wednesday, 18 June, 2008, 9:42 AM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Dear Uttam,
> An estimate is an estimate. It is based on past experience and data. The
> real cost could be lower.
> But that is not the issue here. If we can get free dredging of the
> Brahmaputra or a tributary, why not? That's what my question was about.
> Dilip Deka
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: uttam borthakur <uttamborthakur at yahoo.co.in>
> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the world <
> assam at assamnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:20:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [Assam] Brahmaputra islands to provide landfill
>
> It is mentioned in the report that the cost of the landfill has been
> estimated at Rs250 crores. How have they estimated the cost when the source
> of landfill and the delivery system are yet to be finalised? You do not know
> whether you are buying from public or private source, you do not know
> whether you have to build a road or lay a pieline, you do not know whether
> the land will be free of cost or it will entail costs, and you have
> estimated the cost! That is, even if it costs you Rs.100 crores, you will
> spend Rs.250 crores, by means fair or foul.
>
>
> Uttam Kumar Borthakur
>
> --- On Wed, 18/6/08, Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> From: Dilip and Dil Deka <dilipdeka at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Assam] Brahmaputra islands to provide landfill
> To: "ASSAMNET" <assam at assamnet.org>
> Date: Wednesday, 18 June, 2008, 6:12 AM
>
> It sounds like a good idea. Is there a downside to it?
> Brahmaputra needs dredging and the plant site needs dirt - good match as I
> can
> see it.
> Dilip
>
> Past WeekPast MonthPast 3 MonthsPast 6 MonthsPast YearSince 2006  Guwahati,
> Tuesday, June 17, 2008
> HomeClassifieds Backissues Weather Contact Us
> News
> • City
> • State
> • North East
> • Sports
> • Business
> • Obituary
> Opinion
> • Editorial
> • Letters
> • Jocoserious
> • Photos
> Features
> • Panorama
> • Mosaic
> • Horizon
> • Sunday
>   Reading
> ________________________________
> Brahmaputra islands to provide landfill
> By Ron Duarah
>  DIBRUGARH, June 16 – The river Brahmaputra is being scouted as a possible
> source for silt (fine grain sand) for use as landfill at the 3000 – bigha
> site for the Assam Gas Cracker Project. Work on the project has just begun,
> and
> engineers of BCPL (Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer Limited) and EIL
> (Engineers
> India Limited) have approached the Dibrugarh civil administration for
> possible
> sites from where earth, silt and sand can be extracted to meet the landfill
> requirement.
>
> Sources in BCPL and EIL said the requirement of landfill aggregate is huge,
> and
> is initially pegged at a mind boggling 75 lakh cubic metres. The landfill
> works
> alone are estimated to cost about Rs 250 crore. Such quantities of silt or
> earth is unlikely to be available from a single site, except if the
> Brahmaputra
> is exploited, said a BCPL official. Moreover, land filling on such a scale
> has
> not been taken up before in eastern India for any purpose.
>
> Last week, officials of the Dibrugarh administration and Forest department
> went
> around several places in the vicinity of the gas cracker project site,
> scouting
> for areas from where earth or silt could be excavated from. They have
> pinpointed a couple of places, including the possibility of excavating sand
> from the Buri Dehing river. However, the civil officials have also
> expressed
> their concern at the possible transport bottleneck if these places are to
> be
> used, as a major highway traffic jam could not be ruled out. Then there is
> the
> potential of a public outcry against excavation of paddy fields.
>
> It is anticipated that once the landfill work commences, there would be
> about
> 400 ten-wheel trucks on the road, which would congest the already busy
> national
> highway between Dibrugarh and Jorhat, and may also lead to major traffic
> snarls.
>
>
> Another possibility the BCPL and EIL engineers are mulling is the induction
> of
> slurry pumping systems, to pump silt straight from the river to the gas
> cracker
> site. The system comprises laying of a pipeline, installation of slurry
> pumps
> and booster pumps. The procedure would involve making a fine paste of silt
> and
> water, and push it through a pipeline to pour the material at the required
> site. This system, if put to use, would negate the use of a massive number
> of
> dumper trucks, avoid the need to build a road, and also avoid any road
> congestion by trucks carrying silt/earth.
>
> To avoid nightmarish conditions on the national highway and also to cause
> least
> disturbance and annoyance to the civil population on the Moran – Dibrugarh
> belt, BCPL has been informally advised by the Dibrugarh administration to
> exploit the Brahmaputra for the landfill requirement. "Of course, this
> would entail construction of an adequate service road from the river bank
> to
> the gas cracker site, but is the best available option," remarked a senior
> revenue official here. He said a couple of Brahmaputra islands (char, in
> local
> parlance) could be scooped up to meet the land filling requirements of the
> gas
> cracker project. The civil administration here is of the studied opinion
> that
> such an exercise would be beneficial for Brahmaputra river navigation too,
> provided the excavation of river silt is done from demarcated areas as
> mapped
> by the Forest Department, in consultation with the Water Resources
> Department,
> engineers of the Bogibeel Bridge Project and
> the Inland Water Transport Department.
>
> Meanwhile, work on the rehabilitation of gas cracker – affected families
> (those whose lands and homes have been acquired for setting up of the Rs
> 5,600
> crore project) have begun in right earnest, and people are building their
> homes
> in the designated areas, said a senior district administration official
> here. He
> said the families are being provided financial and material assistance to
> build
> their new homes by the government, and that the evacuated families are
> cooperating with the administration, much to the relief of both BCPL and
> the
> state government.
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
>
>       Download prohibited? No problem. CHAT from any browser, without
> download. Go to http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php/
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>
>
>
>       From Chandigarh to Chennai - find friends all over India. Go to
> http://in.promos.yahoo.com/groups/citygroups/
> _______________________________________________
> assam mailing list
> assam at assamnet.org
> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>

-- 
Manoj Kumar Das
C 172 GF, Sarvodaya Enclave
New Delhi 17 India
0091 9312650558 (HP) 9910972654