Hurry, bury the power lines

One hundred electric poles, flattened in a flash by a devastating spell of rain last week. As live wires dangled dangerously, every rider on the risky roads had a troubling thought: Weren’t these power lines to be shifted to underground safety, years ago?

Burying the cables was no rocket science. Undergrounding (UG) was a solution articulated repeatedly to reassure the public. But on action mode, every agency faltered, and nothing moved. So, will the latest, grandest Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) UG project with a whopping Rs 5,300 crore price tag be any different?

On paper, the project looks sound and steady. Scheduled to kick off in July, the project’s first phase is proposed to be ready in 18 months. Based on a Bescom study, 22 areas will get the UG cabling first.

Identifed for UG cables

The identified localities include Indiranagar, Malleswaram, Jayanagar, Rajajinagar, BTM Layout, Hebbal, Koramangala, Shivajinagar, J P Nagar, Girinagar, Chamarajpet, Ramamurthy Nagar, HSR Layout, Mahalakshmi Layout, RR Nagar, Girinagar, Lingarajpuram, Jayamahal, Peenya, Sadashivanagar, Sahakarnagar and Yelahanka.

But why take up work now, when the monsoon’s potential to trigger commute chaos has been proved right repeatedly, year after year? Every road-cutting work, big and small, only aids congestion, and a project of this scale should only make it worse in the rain.

Bescom, however, hastens to clarify that roads will not be cut. Instead, the agency has proposed to take the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) method to lay the cables underground. HDD is a trenchless boring method to install cables in a shallow curve along a prescribed bore path. To do this, a surface-launched rig / machine is used, ensuring minimal disruption to the road and its surroundings.

HDD mechanism

So, the plan is not to dig up an entire road but to drill holes every few metres. Yet, as the laying of GAIL Gas pipelines has shown, HDD cannot be undertaken on every road stretch. Besides, poor coordination between multiple civic agencies could complicate matters underground.

Coordination issues between the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and GAIL had triggered dangerous gas leaks in the recent past. To avoid a repeat of such accidents, Bescom Managing Director C Shikha says the power utility will follow a special standard operating procedure with GAIL.

The lines of the two highly sensitive utilities will be mapped so there is absolutely no conflict and room for confusion.

The Bruhath Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)’s ongoing white-topping work across the city could be another challenge for the UG project. However, the Palike’s Engineer-in-Chief M R Venkatesh assures that provision has been made on white-topped roads for underground utility ducts every 30 metres. “There is no need to cut them open,” he says.

Dedicated ducts

Dedicated utility ducts under the footpath, modeled after the TenderSURE roads, could be an option. But this mandates some serious data-sharing and brainstorming between all stakeholders involved. Shikha informs that Bescom will indeed opt for these utility ducts wherever feasible in the city’s core areas.

The power agency’s options on undergrounding its powerlines is limited. In May, in just two days of rain, over 300 electric poles had come crashing down, aided by the collapse of 630 roadside trees. This triggered powercuts in Indiranagar, Rajajinagar, Hebbal, RR Nagar, Shivajinagar, Malleswaram and surrounding areas. Facing a manpower crunch, Bescom had a tough time responding to incessant calls.

Budget announcement

The UG project has been in the pipeline for years. In his budget speech in May last year, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had announced that all overhead lines will be replaced with underground cables. This year’s pre-monsoon showers has injected a sense of urgency into the project.

The Bescom MD contends that the preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR), financial tieups with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the necessary approvals took time. The pending processes will be completed during the monsoon. On-ground work is expected to commence once the rains subside.

Under the project, 6,000 km of High Tension cables will be shifted underground. About 12,000 kms of Low Tension lines will either be taken below ground or converted to aerial bunched cables. “The latter method will be adopted on narrow lanes,” informs Shikha.

HDD, she adds, will be the preferred method wherever possible. “In some places, we will have to resort to open trenching. This will be undertaken during night time.”

Coordination issues

Inter-agency coordination is critical here. BBMP Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad says the power utility will pay the road-cutting charges to the Palike. “They are doing it for public good, and the charges will be paid to BBMP once they start work,” he says.

Road-cutting invariably leads to traffic congestion. Both Bescom and BBMP officials assure that the city traffic police will be kept in the loop. Work will be taken up in stages to minimise bottlenecks.

Having learnt huge lessons from the white-topping project and indiscriminate road-digging by both public and private players, the long-suffering road commuters could be sceptical.

But complete the project with the promised efficiency, quality and speed, and they might just be convinced that it was all worth the trouble.