Task force to monitor quality of Metro work

Six-month delay in the project can be made up in the coming months

A 10-member Task force, which was constituted by the government six months ago to look into matters of quality in public projects, has been roped in to look into the Namma Metro project in the City.

Briefing the media on the Task force agenda, Chairman Dr C S Vishwanatha said that he and his colleagues believe that the contractors need more trained hands in construction.
“The six incidents that have occurred on the construction sites of the Metro have been due to callous and elementary mistakes. The contractors do not have sufficient trained hands for the job,” he said.

Demolition outsourced

The work of demolishing portions of constructions for the Metro Project was outsourced, he said, adding that the contractors needed to implement proper safety measures while carrying out the job.

“While the Metro officials have tried to implement the discipline on-site, the contractors who are working on the project need to give importance to safety standards also,” he said.

On the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Navyuga Constructions Ltd on the width of CMH Road being insufficient for construction activity, Vishwanatha said that the width of the road was enough to complete the project.

“The company knew of the construction activity before bidding for the portion. They needed to realise the limitations and should have been prepared with expert engineers and machinery,” he said. 

On the Delhi Metro project disaster he said, “Gammon India Limited is a company with a long history, and we have not found any problems with their construction activity, which is limited in the BMRC.”

Various reasons

Observing that the project has indeed been delayed by nearly six months due to various reasons, Vishwanatha said that this could be easily made up in the coming months.
“As momentum gathers, we can easily make up the time that has been lost. Cost wise, this should not have a major implication on the project,” the chairman added.

Vishwanatha categorically denied that there was any trouble with the technicalities involved in the project.

The Task Force will be releasing a handbook of do’s and don’ts for the Metro officials and contractors, in the coming few weeks.

Concrete roads

Vishwanatha said the Task force had mooted an idea to concretise the roads in the city. “With the cost of bitumen sky rocketing we are trying to impress upon the government to go for concrete roads that are much feasible in the long run with the absence of maintenance cost,” he said.

He said that currently, the task force has taken 20 per cent of City roads, mostly arterial, into its fold, to ensure that the roads are of good quality, and meet the required specifications.

“We are already outsourcing the testing and other requirements to private companies. This will ensure a speedier process of assessing the quality of these roads,” Dr Vishwanatha said.

Besides these, the Task force has also mooted an idea to train Government Engineers, and help update their skills to enable them to keep up with the latest in construction.