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Airport metro to be back on track by August: Govt
The urban development secretary on Saturday announced that services on the high-speed airport metro line will resume by the end of August. Subhendu Ray reports.
The urban development secretary on Saturday announced that services on the high-speed airport metro line will resume by the end of August.
However, many feel that the deadline set by Sudhir Krishna, the urban development secretary, is "unrealistic and absurd".
"As claimed, major defects have been identified on at least 230 spots and many piers need to be replaced as they are completely defected. Even one fourth of the works cannot be completed within the set deadline," said an Indian Railways engineer.
Following identification of major faults in the civil structure of airport metro line, the concessionaire company — Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure — on Friday decided to suspend the service till the damages were rectified.
So far it has not been identified whether the faults lie in design or the construction material used was of poor quality. This will be done in a joint inspection by Indian Railways, DMRC and DAMEPL, which is likely to be completed by July 20.
"Severe problem has been identified in 230 bearings. If these faults are found to be due to poor construction material, all the 2010 bearings would have to be replaced. Presently even the methodology to be adopted is not ascertained. So it is difficult to predict the deadline," said an official.
Asked if the damage control is possible in the time frame given by the government, IJM (India) Infrastructure Ltd, a Malaysia-based company, which is the sub-contractor for DMRC's civil works, remained tightlipped.
Delhi Metro chief Mangu Singh, however, said the deadline can be met as 99 per cent of civil structure of the 22.7 km airport metro line is "alright" and problems were only with a a small stretch.
Sudhir Vohra, an eminent architect and urban planner, said: "Engineers can lie, but engineering cannot."
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