JOIN USHundreds of apartments in the City are still in the making. Perhaps, this is the time for builders to make necessary arrangements for gas pipelines within buildings.
But before pipelines reach buildings, the network has to be ready. “This is the right time to do it because it does not require long-term hindrance of pipe-laying.
Doing this will be very difficult once the City gets crowded. It will also go through restructuring and relaying,” says Arvind Nandan, executive director, Consulting, Cushman and Wakefield, a real estate solution firm.
Bangalore currently has 20,000-30,000 units and in the next four-five years, it will have at least one lakh units. “It will be very difficult to implement it then (after 4-5 years), plus buildings should be able to accommodate it. It is easy to implement it while buildings are still under construction than while people are staying there. So, if it has to be done, it has to be now,” he said.
Echoing Nandan, builders said infrastructure needs to be in place now, and that the government and other stakeholders should not wait till the project reaches the final stages. Varaprasad Reddy, proprietor of Siri Homes, which has constructed over 25 apartment complexes in the City, says:
“The challenge would be to accommodate such pipelines in buildings that are already constructed. If lines were to be drawn to buildings that are under construction, there should not be much of a problem, as builders have some expertise in this already.”
The expertise comes in the form of having laid pipelines through the walls of buildings so as to draw gas from the cylinders placed in the basement. “The technology is the same. Here we have cylinders in one place and different pipes take it to different units. In case of the new project, it will directly be drawn from the line that runs through the area, instead of a cylinder,” Venkata Reddy, another builder, said.
Kishore of Kishore Constructions and Builders said the true challenge will be in installing such equipment in buildings that already exist. “We must understand that the kind of civil work that goes in is not like when we are adding electrical wires or replacing them. In this case, it would be almost impossible to add pipes to an existing building, and this is something builders must be informed in advance.”
Having completed over 23 projects, he is of the opinion that the government and the implementing authorities must consult other stakeholders at the earliest so that they are prepared to participate in the project. “If they can hold consultations with builders and citizens, then every time we launch a new project from now on, we can offer our prospective buyers this option and provide this if there is a demand. Otherwise, it will appear as if builders had not made such provisions, which is not what we want,” he said.
More efficient
Nandan further said: “Bangalore has the capability. Besides, profits are high with this in place.” Varaprasad Reddy pointed out that in case of pipes that draw gas from cylinders underground, “...there is a huge loss for consumers.”
“Once about 50 per cent of the gas from a cylinder is consumed, it does not travel to the household as desired, resulting in a loss; but once the new project comes, this will be eliminated,” he said.
Issue of safety
Though the Fire and Emergency Services top brass are of the opinion that the piped gas project was a tried and tested form of gas supply across the world and is less prone to mishaps, the project-implementing agency is yet to contact the Fire Department authorities to evolve a system to tackle the situation in case of any eventuality.
“There is a need to evolve a system to ensure safety and for which every stakeholder needs to sit across the table and discuss. It has been said piped gas would be supplied in the City within the next year, and I feel my department will have to play a major role. However, the implementing agency is yet to consult us,” says B G Chengappa, Director, Fire and Emergency Services.
He said the project was hugely successful in the national capital, and if pragmatically implemented, it would definitely be a great success in the City, too. “Bangalore is in no way inferior to Delhi in terms of safety, and the project will be successful even here,” he said.
“Most apartments in the City have implemented reticulated gas supply where all LPG gas cylinders are placed in the basement and gas is supplied to each flat through pipelines drawn from the basement.
The piped gas project is an extension of the same. Currently, norms require apartment owners to obtain a no-objection certificate from the Fire and Emergency Services to implement it,” Chengappa said.
The steps taken to handle the situation whenever a major fire mishap occurs will be followed, if something goes wrong after the project is implemented. It will be the same till new methods emerge, said another officer.