Govt agencies gear up to restart construction work in Delhi
The decision to allow “in-situ” construction (where the workers stay on the premises) has come as a relief to several Delhi government agencies because several infrastructure projects have been stuck since last November, when construction activity was banned due to high air pollution levels in the city.
Construction work on several major infrastructure projects in the capital may resume next week, after the Centre on Wednesday granted conditional approval for such activity in areas where there were no coronavirus disease (Covid-19) containment zones and if labourers were available on-site.
The decision to allow “in-situ” construction (where the workers stay on the premises) has come as a relief to several Delhi government agencies because several infrastructure projects have been stuck since last November, when construction activity was banned due to high air pollution levels in the city. That ban was lifted on February 14, only to be reimposed when the national lockdown was imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended the lockdown till May 3, but some activities have been permitted to kick-start the economy and provide job opportunities to daily-wage labourers.
Though the availability of workers may be a challenge because several thousand migrant workers left the city for their towns and villages after the lockdown was announced, and work may proceed at a slow pace, several big projects are set to resume, according to multiple officials aware of the developments.
“The available labour is not enough to move the projects at the desired pace. So it is likely that initially the work will be slow. Plus, we will also have to see how to get material as the factories are also shut,” said a senior Public Works Department (PWD) official who asked not to be named.
But, the official added, enough labour is available to kick-start some key projects -- the tunnel that is a part of the Pragati Maidan redevelopment plan, the Barapullah-3 elevated road near Sarai Kale Khan, the Yamuna basin near Mayur Vihar-1, the Shashtri Park and Seelampur flyovers in north-east Delhi, and the Benito Juarez Road underpass near South Campus of the Delhi University.
Government agencies on Wednesday began assessing the inventory of construction material and labour availability, a second PWD official said.
NBCC (India) Limited, which is carrying out construction work at Pragati Maidan and other central government projects, said it will start the work with whatever is available.
Its chairman and managing director, PK Gupta said: “We have projects ongoing at several locations in Delhi. We are assessing the situation and will be able to start work from April 20 at a number of places, as we have labour force available on our construction sites. We shall start work with construction material available at site and should be able to get required construction material from other places also as per the guidelines issued by government.”
Workers on the Pragati Maidan project are staying at a camp near the site. The project, which started in July 2017, is scheduled to be completed at the end of the year.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said the availability of workers was not an issue because it was taking care of more than 3,500 stranded labourers at various locations across Delhi-NCR.
“DMRC can resume construction activities after April 20 if the [Delhi] government allow it. We have the workforce available. Limited construction material/machinery are available at the sites for immediate resumption of work. However, adequate availability of all these materials in the long run may depend on the relaxation of lockdown guidelines post May 3, 2020,” said Anuj Dayal, executive director, corporate communication, DMRC.
DMRC started the construction work on its Phase-IV network in Haiderpur Badli Mor on December 31.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) said that it is assessing the situation and is likely to resume work at 10 of its housing sites. “We will start the work with whatever material is available on the site,” said Tarun Kapoor, DDA vice-chairperson.
There were a total of 1,578 Covid-19 cases in the Capital on Wednesday, and 56 areas in the city have so far been declared “containment zones”, where the curbs are more stringent, all movement in banned, and essential supplies are home-delivered by the government.