#engineersindia

[indianpetroplus1]

MRPL ATF pipeline EPCM: Mecon's aggressive pricing raises execution questions

The MRPL ATF pipeline EPCM contract has attracted attention not merely because of the award itself but because of the substantial pricing gap between India's two leading engineering consultancies. Mecon secured the EPCM assignment for the Devanagonthi-to-Bengaluru Airport aviation turbine fuel pipeline at Rs 27.47 crore, while Engineers India Limited quoted Rs 44.55 crore. The difference of over 38% immediately raises questions about project costing, manpower assumptions and construction-stage risk allocation. Indian Petroplus analysis believes the unusually wide spread will become an important reference point for future EPCM consultancy tenders.

The MRPL ATF pipeline EPCM scope extends well beyond engineering design. The consultant must validate feasibility studies, prepare procurement packages, supervise construction, coordinate commissioning, inspect equipment and integrate multiple contractors throughout the 34-month execution period. Although MRPL has agreed to provide survey data, project stores and additional field investigations where necessary, the consultant continues to bear responsibility for manpower deployment, domestic inspections and site management within the quoted lump-sum price.

Mecon's existing Bengaluru office may provide some operational cost advantage, but the magnitude of the pricing difference suggests bidders adopted fundamentally different assumptions regarding inspection intensity, staffing requirements and execution risks. Contract management will therefore become critical to ensure lower consultancy costs do not translate into execution delays or scope disputes. MRPL ATF pipeline EPCM may ultimately become a benchmark for evaluating value-based consultancy selection rather than simple price comparison. Indian Petroplus analysis expects project execution performance to determine whether Mecon's pricing reflects operational efficiency or aggressive commercial strategy, MRPL, ATF Pipeline, EPCM, Mecon, Engineers India, Airport Fuel Pipeline, Aviation Fuel.

[sabu-j-blog-blog]

RAM IS A BOY

I realised, not only humans but less mortals like motor vehicles could also go mad. The Delhi - Agra highway was roaring before me in testimony to it. The lone jawan at the gate was emotionless, his hands clutched firmly on the machine gun. Beyond the gate, the township road lay lit partially by the fading sun and rest by sodium vapour lamps. The dusk was yet to pick up and so was the market in front of the gate of Mathura Refinery Township. The blaring horns of the assorted automobiles were irritating. It was a new and strange world to me, transplanted fresh to the northern plains from the western shores. I just wandered out from my chilly guest house room in search of a telephone booth. An evening exactly twenty years before this day. As I waited patiently to cross to the telephone booth across the highway, my eyes struck to a middle aged villager clad in hand woven green sweater strolling leisurely a few feet away from me, a double barrel rifle strung casually on his left shoulder. It astonished me as I used to witness firearms only on a couple of scenarios till then- with the police or in movies! Leaving Krishna and three year old son Nandu back in Mumbai, I was homesickness personified. Hardly twelve hours before, while alighting from Paschim Express at Mathura Junction I reminisced a lesson from my class ten Malayalam text book, of Professor Mundassery Master’s account of drinking hot milk from roughly moulded earthen pots at Mathura Railway station. I could not find any legendary milkman or milk women on that cold February morning. A rough and shivering auto rickshaw ride under support by broken communication led me to Engineers India Limited’s Project Office at Mathura Refinery to start my second phase of official life as a Senior Engineer. The cordial and helpful office atmosphere boosted my confidence but failed to ward off the pain of separation from family. While pouring my emotions into the telephone receiver, Krishna tried to help from the other end, knowing little that her husband would land back in Mumbai deciding to quit Engineers India Limited hardly a week after joining there. I started job hunt in Mumbai. One evening while pillion riding with me on my Kinetic Honda holding a dozing Nandu in her lap, on the busy artery road in sector nine of Vashi Navi Mumbai, Krishna made the decision of her life. Her right hand firmly on my shoulder, she declared. “Sabu, stop this job hunts while you already have a better job. I am quitting my job. Let us shift to Mathura. You cannot live alone.” From the next telephone booth, I talked to my senior Ravi Kaul to ensure my job and to inform him about my return. I escaped from Mathura applying two days casual leave and absconding for ten days! Back in Mathura, my colleague and friend Sunil Gupta was prohetic. “Welcome back to Engineers India Limited! You will never regret your decision”. But till date, I am not aware whether Krishna regretted. It was a clear sacrifice of her career. The commemoratory silver plaque for twenty years of long service in Engineers India Limited is waiting for me. I have to comprehend what to respond on receiving it. I may jot down or jet out some flowery words true to my feelings. But twenty years before, in the Hindi heartland, I was a retarded person as far as communication, with class five Hindi skills of just three sentences: ‘Ram ek ladka hein’ (Ram is a boy). ‘Sita ek ladki hein’ (Sita is a girl). ‘Kalam mein syahi hein’ (There is ink in the pen). And any better now neither! Ram and Sita are still continuing to be boy and girl respectively. But there is no pen with ink in it, as Engineers India is totally computerised. By the time I am ripe for the thirty year silver plaque, GOD, please BLESS me not to get reduced to a person affixing thumb impression on cheque books! -Sabu. J. Nair, 01sT February 2014.