recerved at U3 [N]ie IS US ow (At the suit, instance and request of LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD, electing its legal (domicile in the office of the undersigned Attomey, of Unit 601, 5" floor, Chancery (House, Lislet Geoffroy Street, Port-Louis NOTICE IN REPLY FROM LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD TO THE NOTICE OF THE HEREUNDER NAMED PARTIES, electing their legal domicile in the office of Me. Naseebah A. Chataroo-Chumun situate at 7" Floor, Hennessy Tower, 23, Jules Koenig Street, Port-Louis, 4. Larsen & Toubro LTD ("L&T") acknowledges receipt of the mise en demeure served at the suit, request and instance of the hereunder named parties on the 15/11/2018 (the “Notice”). 2. L&T denies the allegations of negligence levelled against it in the Notice, denies being responsible for the alleged prejudice, loss and damaged referred to in paragraph 15 of the Notice, and denies being indebted to the hereunder named parties in the sum claimed, or in any sum at all. 3. L&T's response to the Notice is set out below. Save and except as hereinafter expressly admitted, all the averments of the Notice are traversed as though the same were herein set out and traversed seriatim. 4, L&T takes note of paragraph 1 of the Notice. L&T admits paragraph 2 of the Notice and states that it has been awarded a contract by Metro Express Limited and the Government of Mauritius for ‘engineering, procurement and construction work for the Metro Express project in =the Republic of the Mauritius. 6. L&T takes note of paragraph 3 of the Notice. 7. L&T makes no admission as to paragraphs 4 to 14 of the Notice, puts the hereundernamed parties to the proof of each and every averment set out therein and states: 7.1.On the 27/10/2018, construction work in respect of the Metro Express project was on-going: 7.2.On the 28/10/2018 at or about 11am, it was noticed that three manholes on Sir Virgil Naz Street, Rose Hill, were overflowing; 7.3.L&T immediately informed the Wastewater Management Authority ("WMA") of the incident and L&T deployed a highly empowered quick response team to deal with the situation;7.4.The identification of the pipe which was clogged and which was causing the manholes to overflow was time consuming, and required L&T to carry out certain excavation works. The entire operation of detection of the fault, excavation of the pit, dismantling of the affected pipe and rectification works were jointly carried out by engineers of WMA and L&T ina professional manner and in accordance with engineering standards required for works of this nature; 7.5.On 30/10/2018, the process of identifying the clogged pipes and allowing the water to flow downstream was completed; 7.6. Notwithstanding the process of identifying the causes of the overflowing manholes, two sewage tankers were deployed as from 11:30 AM on 28/10/2018 to pump the sewerage, which was overflowing from the manholes. These two sewage tankers worked throughout the day and night of 28/10/2018 to evacuate the waste water from the street. On 29/10/2018, six additional tankers and two heavy duty dewatering pumps were mobilized to remove the water overflowing from the manholes; 7.7.On 30/10/2018, after detecting and removing the blockage, the overflow of water reduced and, by 10am on 31/10/2018, had completely stopped. 7.8.While these operations were ongoing, L&T engaged twelve sewage tankers and heavy duty dewatering pumps to remove water from the overflowing manhole chambers at Sir Virgil Naz Street and the excavated pits at the site. Wastewater pumped from these manhole chambers and excavated pits was discharged into the nearest sewer manhole, and not into Riviére Séche as alleged; 7.9. After completely stopping the overflow of water on 31/10/2018, L&T mobilized multiple teams to clear all the dirty water and slush from the affected areas as a matter of priority. Arrangements were made to clean the roads and nearby shops using jetting machines and fresh water tankers. Crusher run was spread in front of the residential area after cleaning the slush. Specialised agencies were deployed to disinfect the area, shops, car parking area, storm water channels and the river. Cleaning and disinfection of shops and nearby residences was ompleted by the evening of 31/10/2018. Specialised agencies were deployed in order to spray air fresheners in the affected area and distribute air freshener kits to shops in the affected area. The cleaning of sludge from the river stream behind the CEB premises was continually done to ensure there was no residual sludge in the river. Road cleaning and disinfection of the locality was carried out each day to ensure a clean environment.7.10. __Itis denied that WMA continued to pump waste water from Sir Virgil Naz Street until 10/11/18. L&T stopped pumping out waste water from Sir Virgil Naz Street on the 31/10/2018 when the blockage was cleared. As a measure of abundant precaution, all the pipes and manholes in the vicinity were verified by L&T and WMA during off peak timing at specific areas to make sure that there were no blockages and that pipes were clear of any obstruction. Apart from other technical surveys, a special investigation through camera was carried out at night to find out the extent to which the pipe along Sir Virgil Naz Street was obstructed. 7.41. On 13/11/2018 at about noon, there was heavy rainfall in Rose Hill which caused an inflow of twigs, branches, leaves and debris into the pit excavated to investigate the sewer line at Place Margéot. As a result, the mouth of the sewer pipe got clogged. This caused the overfiow of a manhole at Sir Virgil Naz Street for a short period of time. The overflowing is not related to sewer pipe damage incident, 8. L&T denies paragraph 15 of the Notice generally and puts the hereunder named parties to the proof thereof. 9. L&T denies paragraph 16 of the Notice and puts the hereunder named parties to the proof thereof. L&T avers that it immediately took all remedial measures following the overflow of sewerage along Sir Virgil Naz Street, Rose Hill on the material date to minimise and/ or avoid any inconvenience and/ or damage and/or prejudice to the inhabitants of Sir Virgil Naz Street. 10.In response to paragraph 17 of the Notice, L&T notes that no breakdown of the sum claimed in respect of each of the claimants nor any particulars of the claim have been provided. L&T denies the averments set out in paragraph 17 and denies being indebted to the hereunder named parties in the sum claimed, or in any sum atall. 14.L&T therefore will not comply with the requirements and exigencies of the Notice. Under all legal reservations Dated at Port-Louis, this 2; of November 2018 “i wi Of Unit 601, 5" floor, Chancer ATTORNEY FOR LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD GUJADHUR SA (ot m- Ba House, Lislet Geoffroy Street, Port-Louis a