FIELD NOTES — ASIA PACIFIC

India: The Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) contracted the India-based IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects Ltd (IVRCL) to carry out the US$ 15.7-million Narmada Canal Distribution Network (NCD-1) project for Rajkot district water supply scheme.

Funded by the National Agriculture Bank for Rural Development, the project involves procurement, supply and laying of 32,300 MS pipes, 1,37,875 DI pipes and 6,73,280 of PVC pipes, in addition to the construction of three water treatment plants of capacity 1,345 m3/hr, pump houses and sumps. The project is scheduled to be completed in 15 months.

India: HINDUSTAN Construction Co Ltd (HCC) won a US$ 186.5-million contract to construct a water pipeline project for lifting water from Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. HCC emerged as the lowest bidder, pushing aside two other bids from an L&T-led consortium and Sino Hydro of China. The contract includes the design and construction of pump houses, supply and erection of pipeline, supply and installation of pumps and allied electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical works on a lump-sum turnkey contract basis. HCC will also operate and maintain the project for two years.

Malaysia: Ranhill Utilities Bhd (RUB) will invest about US$ 105.3 million in the next two years to further upgrade water treatment, supply and distribution in Johor.

RUB president Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad said the investment would be made through its water concessionaire unit SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd. Most of this budget will be used to replace old cement pipes in the Batu Pahat and Muar districts, which contribute to high non-revenue water (NRW) losses. The company will replace some 5,800 km of cement pipes in Johor with steel or PVC pipes.

SAJ plans to reduce its NRW to 20% by 2010 from 32% currently, which was already the lowest in the country as some states experienced NRW of up to 67%. The national average is 40%. "For any concessionaire, NRW is always the main concern as higher NRW will affect your earnings base," Hamdan added.

Thailand: The Hydrodynamic Flow Measurement Project resulted in the development of a real time flood forecasting system for the Lower Chao Praya River that flows through the centre of Bangkok and its surrounding area.

The UK company Wallingford Software cooperated on this project with AMR Asia Co. Ltd, the main contractor and supplier of telemetry and SCADA equipment, and Professor Chukiat Sapphaisal of Kasetsart University, who led a team of specialist local Thai modelers and flood forecasting experts.

Andrew Brown of Wallingford Software commented: "InfoWorks and FloodWorks have alleviated concerns about the risk of flooding by improving the accuracy of flood forecasting very considerably. Bangkok now benefits from seven-day predictions of water levels and flows in the lower Chao Praya River compared with two days previously." For more information, visit the website: www.wallingfordsoftware.com