Hassles in Metro construction; stagnant works!
Posted on: 02/Sep/2015 4:45:20 PM
There has been no progress seen with the Chennai Metro Rail as one of its major contractors has abandoned the project. However, works are now picking up gradually and a portion of tunneling work is now completed on the 3.3 km stretch running from Saidapet to AG-DMS. This work got over as per the instruction by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to assign it to Afcons Infrastructure Limited. To note, the project was abandoned by Mosmetrostory which is based in Russia. The contract with Gammon India was then terminated by the CMRL after two months of this happening.
A joint venture contract was signed with Gammon India and Mosmetrostory by the CMRL in the year 2011. This contract was worth Rs 1,947 crore and it was for the 7 underground stations that falls alongside Anna Salai.
There was a huge delay shown by Gammon India in carrying out a construction work following which a notice was sent to the company. This notice was replied stating that the soil condition and other reasons make the tunneling work tough to be carried out. This was followed by a request for extension of 18 months from the deadline originally committed to, but this deadline extension request was refused by the CMRL. The project was then abandoned by Mosmetrostory in May 2015 all of a sudden citing reasons as financial crunch which made the project arrive at a standstill. When the contract with Gammon`s India was cancelled, a stay was sought with the court. Amidst these, tender calls are given out by the CMRL for fresh contractors to compete for the pending works on Anna Salai stretch.
