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Notes on Justification for Locating the Project in Forest Land and Details of Alternates Examined

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Notes on Justification for Locating the Project in Forest Land and Details of Alternates Examined Notes on justification for locating the project in forest land and details of alternates examined 1.0 Extent of Forest land involved for the proposed scheme Entire project is not in Forest land. Two major units i.e. Intake and WTP are in Forest land. Out of total 85.4 km length of transmission system, 41.3 km length for pipeline and 5.8 km length of two tunnels i.e. total 47.1 km are in Forest land as detailed below. i) Intake at Kawadas - 2.10 Ha ii) WTP at Suryanagar - 23.47 Ha iii) Length of transmission main - 41.31 km iv) Tunnel for crossing NH at Mendhwankhind - 1.35 km v) Tunnel for crossing Tungareshwar WLS - 4.40 km 2.0 Alternate routes examined Various alternate routes keeping source and Intake location same are studied. The route should be suitable to accommodate 2235 mm pipeline for which minimum strip width of 8 m is required. Hence, it is not possible to lay pipeline on narrow village roads and cart tracks. The study concludes that only two routes as described below can be shortlisted for further critical examination. The two alternate routes as under are critically examined covering aspects of feasibility of construction, maintenance, original costs, life cycle costs etc. The map appended to the note shows the two routes. Page | 1 Route – 1 : - Kawadas Intake to Suryanagar WTP to Ghol Junction (NH8). This section of length 9.3 km is partly in forest and partly on state highway and ZP road - Ghol junction to Ghodbunder of total length 74.8 km incorporates number of forest stretches and Tungareshwar Wild Life Sanctuary - Further 1 km from junction to MBR at Kashidkopar for VVCMC and 2 km from Ghodbunder to MBR at Chene for MBMC - Total length of route is 85.4 km and includes three tunnels of 1.7 km, 4.25 km and 0.9 km length and 78.55 km long pipelines Route – 2 : - Kawadas Intake to Suryanagar WTP and Suryanagar WTP to Ghol – same as Route -1 - Further the routes follows ZP roads, state highway, ODR, Vaitarna river crossings, Virar-Mumbai Rail crossing, 17 km long route on proposed ring route in Vasai-Virar City and Vasai creek crossing and further to Uttan MBR in MBMC - Total length of the route is 97 km and includes three tunnels of 3 km, 1.5 km and 5.1 km for crossings at Vaitarna river, railway and Vasai creek respectively Page | 2 3.0 Comparison of two alternate routes 3.1 Comparison of vital parameters for two routes S. No. Parameter NH Route Other Route 1 Length of route 85 km 97 km 2 Number & length of tunnels 3 m - 1.7 km 3 m - 3.0 km 2 m - 4.3 km 2 m - 1.5 km 2 m - 0.9 km 2 m - 5.1 km Total 6.9 km Total 9.6 km 3 Extent of land Forest 64.46 Ha Forest 45.6 Ha acquisition/diversion Private 36.67 Ha Private 85 Ha required 4 Access to pipeline route Good Access to 17 km long route by side of proposed ring route is difficult due to number of salt pans and non-availability of roads 5 Feasibility of construction No major problem Above 17 km stretch is low lying, subjected to ingress of sea water. Pipeline will be above ground and on pile, very difficult situation for construction 6 Maintenance Normal Repairing, greasing and painting for above ground pipeline for 17 km long section very cumbersome and expensive Page | 3 S. No. Parameter NH Route Other Route 7 Energy cost - The pump head shall be higher by about 10 m requiring additional Rs.3.3 Crores per annum 8 Total capital cost Rs.1384.3 Crores Rs.1675.2 Crores 9 Life cycle cost for 30 years Rs.2577.1 Crores Rs.2969.5 Crores of life (inflation = 5%, Interest = 7%) 3.2 Conclusion Inferences as under can be drawn from above comparison. Option of NH route is economical by Rs.290 Crores in capital cost and Rs.390 Crores in life cycle cost. The difference in costs is huge Option of alternate (other) route is problematical and very difficult from aspects of access and constructability Option of alternate route is costly from aspects of maintenance and energy cost Thus option of NH route is only feasible and therefore selected. Page | 4 .
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