Bawana Industrial Area, New Delhi — 135 KM OFC Corridor

135 kilometres of optical fibre corridor delivered for Bharti Airtel across the Bawana industrial estate between January and December 2019 in North West Delhi, under multi-authority compliance. What made this corridor difficult was not its length but its subsurface: an industrial estate developed over decades where plot-level servicing had been added privately by successive occupiers, and where the estate drawings described trunk infrastructure that plot connections had long since departed from.

The conditions that shaped delivery

Estate roads carried trunk servicing broadly where the layout said, but the frontage strips held connections taken wherever each unit found convenient, none of it recorded. Process and effluent routes from earlier trades crossed plot boundaries that no longer existed in the same form. Working around live production meant access negotiated with individual operators rather than granted by the estate, and scheduled shutdown windows were the practical time to work inside plot boundaries. Approvals ran through the corporation, the industrial development body and the power utility in parallel.

What the corridor demonstrates

That survey ahead of construction rather than alongside it is what allows a corridor of this length to run without stoppage on an estate this congested. That treating inherited industrial servicing as potentially live rather than assumed dead prevented incidents on a route where several such lines were found. And that opening estate and utility approvals in parallel with the civic file — rather than sequentially — is what kept the programme moving. We would rather be asked what went wrong on this corridor than what went right; that answer is more useful to a prospective client.

Beyond the basics

What made this corridor difficult? Not the length. Decades of privately added plot-level servicing on an industrial estate, none of it recorded, with process routes crossing boundaries that had changed.

How was live production handled? Access negotiated with individual operators rather than granted by the estate, with scheduled shutdown windows used for work inside plot boundaries.

Were inherited services assumed dead? No, and that mattered. Several were found and treated as potentially live until an owner confirmed, which is what prevented incidents.

How were approvals sequenced? Corporation, industrial development body and power utility opened in parallel rather than sequentially, which is what kept the programme moving.

Can we speak to the client about it? Ask us at tender stage and we will arrange what the client permits. We would rather you asked what went wrong than what went right.

Terms used on this page

Estate layout — the industrial authority's retained drawing of trunk services on estate roads. Frontage strip — the band where plot connections meet the estate road, where the record fails. Shutdown window — a planned production stoppage, the practical time for in-plant work. Potentially live — a service treated as energised until an owner confirms otherwise. Parallel approvals — opening multiple permission processes simultaneously rather than in sequence.