Sunday, August 25, 2013

Chennaites to wait longer for Metro rail elevated project to be completed

Termination of contract hits April 2014 deadline
C Shivakumar
Chennai:
Chennaites will now have to wait longer for the elevated stretch to be completed as the project is likely to be delayed with the termination of the contract of Lanco Infratech Limited due to delay in execution of work on the stretch between Officers’ Training Academy (OTA) and Chennai airport. 
The revised deadline for finishing the elevated stretch was April 2014 but with the termination of Lanco’s contract, it won’t be possible to meet this deadline as work in the stretch is likely to delayed, metro rail sources said.
Interestingly, the biggest headache for Chennai Metro Rail will now be to find a new contractor.  And officials feel this could take nearly three to four months time. “This also depends how good the agency is when it comes to executing the work,” a metro rail source said.
Metro rail officials told Express that the contract was terminated due to inordinate delay by the company in executing the work. The company was awarded the contract for Rs 178.94 crore in August 2011 for the construction of the elevated stretch between OTA and Chennai airport.
“They should have completed 80 to 90 per cent of work by now but they managed to complete only 30 per cent,” a metro rail official said.
Interestingly, in a further blow to metro rail, Lanco has started legal proceedings over the termination of contract. This is cause of concern as legal wrangles could also further delay the project.
Metro Rail officials said now the biggest challenge is to find some quick solutions so that the work on the stretch resumes. Interestingly, this comes at a time when Chennai’s first metro rail, that was imported from Brazil, is set to undergo test run in the 800 metre test track by the end of this week or next month.

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