Will Signature Bridge be completed on time?
14 July 2012 1:17 AM GMT
Couple of days after Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit visited the Signature Bridge sites that are under construction, the absence of chief project manager Arvind Singh, who is responsible for entire approaches work from Gammon India, is raising many eyebrows.
Dikshit inspected the Signature Bridge project on Wednesday and during the visit the contractor projected the probable completion of the project by June 2012.
The project was announced in 2004 by the Delhi government which includes two parts approaches and main bridge and was estimated at around Rs 1,131 crore.
When Millennium Post visited the site to get the reaction of the contractor on the CM’s direction for completion of the work, no senior official of Gammon were present at the site. The junior staff of the contractor at the site intimated that the officials at site during the CM’s visit were not the regular officials stationed at Delhi.
One of the staff, on conditions of anonymity, said, ‘The senior officers had come to the site exclusively for the CM’s visit and returned to Mumbai after that. In fact, the contractor setup at the Signature Bridge project is working without a leader.'
Sources also revealed that Singh has been arrested by the Mumbai police in a fraud case related to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation work.
The junior staff of the construction company further stated that the project site is facing severe problem of cash.
The headquarters, which is located in Mumbai, are not giving any money to the site for the execution of work and the site has already incurred a liability of over Rs 12 crore.
When the Delhi in-charge of the project Madhu Sudan Dey was contacted, he said, ‘Some problems did occur, but nothing like lack of funds. As far as I know, Singh is on leave for some personal work and he is in Mumbai at present.’
The site staff also revealed that the suppliers have stopped the supplies of the raw materials like sand and aggregate.
The site staff also allege that they are not being paid their salary on regularly, thus demotivating them and affecting the progress of the work in the process.
In the recent past, a few Gammon engineers have left the job due to the non-payment of their salary on time. Project director D Dutta left the project in November 2011 allegedly due to lack of support from his headquarters.
Meanwhile, the entire steel fabrication of the project is being done at China. Till date, not a single fabricated material has arrived at Delhi work site.
If everything goes exactly as per the plan, the first consignment of fabricated steel material is expected to arrive at Delhi work site in December 2012 and the construction of the fabricated material would start in January 2013.
Sources from Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited [DTTDC], who has been entrusted the project said, ‘It would not take less than 16 months to complete the construction work. As such the completion of the project in December 2013 is next to impossible.’
The source also intimated that the foundation work of one of the important foundations, P-23, has not started yet.
DTTDC has not issued the drawings for the foundation yet.
This foundation is going to take over 14 months to be completed. Pier and deck would be executed thereafter, which would take not less than 8-10 months.
In view of these, at best the project could be completed only in June 2014. And at worst, it may go on till March 2015.
Dikshit inspected the Signature Bridge project on Wednesday and during the visit the contractor projected the probable completion of the project by June 2012.
The project was announced in 2004 by the Delhi government which includes two parts approaches and main bridge and was estimated at around Rs 1,131 crore.
When Millennium Post visited the site to get the reaction of the contractor on the CM’s direction for completion of the work, no senior official of Gammon were present at the site. The junior staff of the contractor at the site intimated that the officials at site during the CM’s visit were not the regular officials stationed at Delhi.
One of the staff, on conditions of anonymity, said, ‘The senior officers had come to the site exclusively for the CM’s visit and returned to Mumbai after that. In fact, the contractor setup at the Signature Bridge project is working without a leader.'
Sources also revealed that Singh has been arrested by the Mumbai police in a fraud case related to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation work.
The junior staff of the construction company further stated that the project site is facing severe problem of cash.
The headquarters, which is located in Mumbai, are not giving any money to the site for the execution of work and the site has already incurred a liability of over Rs 12 crore.
When the Delhi in-charge of the project Madhu Sudan Dey was contacted, he said, ‘Some problems did occur, but nothing like lack of funds. As far as I know, Singh is on leave for some personal work and he is in Mumbai at present.’
The site staff also revealed that the suppliers have stopped the supplies of the raw materials like sand and aggregate.
The site staff also allege that they are not being paid their salary on regularly, thus demotivating them and affecting the progress of the work in the process.
In the recent past, a few Gammon engineers have left the job due to the non-payment of their salary on time. Project director D Dutta left the project in November 2011 allegedly due to lack of support from his headquarters.
Meanwhile, the entire steel fabrication of the project is being done at China. Till date, not a single fabricated material has arrived at Delhi work site.
If everything goes exactly as per the plan, the first consignment of fabricated steel material is expected to arrive at Delhi work site in December 2012 and the construction of the fabricated material would start in January 2013.
Sources from Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited [DTTDC], who has been entrusted the project said, ‘It would not take less than 16 months to complete the construction work. As such the completion of the project in December 2013 is next to impossible.’
The source also intimated that the foundation work of one of the important foundations, P-23, has not started yet.
DTTDC has not issued the drawings for the foundation yet.
This foundation is going to take over 14 months to be completed. Pier and deck would be executed thereafter, which would take not less than 8-10 months.
In view of these, at best the project could be completed only in June 2014. And at worst, it may go on till March 2015.
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