They managed to do the impossible at least on paper. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) managed to complete the gigantic Yamuna Velodrome, which will play host to the indoor-cycling event during the Commonwealth Games (CWG), in a matter of four days. Shocked? Read on.
The CPWD
got the building plan of the Velodrome from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on August 31, two months after the construction work was completed. Not only this, the completion certificate was also issued by the MCD on September 4.
Considering construction work is always started once the building plan is sanctioned, going by the dates one would assume that the Velodrome was constructed in just four days. “The building plan was released by us on August 31 as the CPWD had not submitted the Velodrome’s layout plan as it had to be stamped by the MCD. We issued their completion certificate on September 4 after their building plan was released,” said a senior MCD official.
In reality, it took 17 months to construct the Velodrome and was formally inaugurated by Sports Minister M.S. Gill in June. However, as the building plan had not been released by the MCD it was not given a completion certificate much earlier. “I can’t tell off-hand, I will have to access the files and only then I can comment on this,” said B.K. Chugh, CPWD Director General.
According to the civic agency the CPWD had also applied for the building plan sanctioning just seven months back. However, the building plan, which they should have got sanctioned before the construction work started, has been issued two months after the work got over. The Velodrome has been constructed at a cost of Rs 150 crore where the cycling event for the Commonwealth Games will be held. Interestingly, while the building plan was released by the MCD recently, the venue has already see test events take place there.
The Commonwealth Games Federation had been asking the CWG Organising Committee for completion certificates of all the venues by August 31. However, as work was still on at many venues, the civic agencies were not able to issue them.