NHAI contractor ‘quits’ ₹1K-cr key infra project on Gurugram’s MG Road

The NHAI contractor said that delay in handing over a piece of land by the concerned authority for the project to remodel Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Signature Tower and Iffco Chowk is costing his company financially.

Gurugram

A view of a petrol pump at Gurugram’s MG road. NHAI has received a letter from its contractor threatening to quit MG Road underpass construction which is getting delayed due to unavailability of land on which the petrol pump stands.(Kartik Wahie/HT PHOTO)

A contractor hired to construct a network of flyovers and underpasses, including a 700 metre-long underpass at MG Road, has decided to “quit the project” due to the delay in handing over a piece of land, the NHAI has said.

The work is part of ₹1,000 drore project to remodel Hero Honda Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Signature Tower and Iffco Chowk in Gurugram for which the contractor was hired in 2016.

In his letter sent to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) last week, the contractor said the delay in completing the underpass, all of which is complete except a 60 metre portion of land with a petrol pump on it, is costing his company financially. All flyovers and underpasses barring the one on MG Road—which had a December 2017deadline—in front of ABW Tower and an elevated road at Iffco Chowk are complete.

With the matter of shifting the petrol pump held up in the civil court, the NHAI has not been able to complete the Iffco Chowk elevated road because the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), formerly Huda, has not shifted high-tension electricity poles.

“Our contractor has decided to quit and we have sent the request to NHAI headquarter. The delay is financially damaging the company and NHAI also,” NHAI-Gurugram project director Ashok Sharma said, adding that hiring a new contractor would be a costly and time-consuming affair as the tender would have to be floated again.

“We have been waiting for the land from Huda,” Sharma said.

In January 2017, the NHAI had written to Huda to shift utilities such as water, sewer lines and the petrol pump falling in alignment of the project. But, the HSVP has failed to find a suitable alternative piece of land for the petrol pump.

After an earlier court stay on relocation of the petrol pump was vacated on April 12, the alternative site allotted to M/s Kartan Petroleum landed in fresh legal trouble. The owner of a commercial building adjacent to the site challenged the vacation in sessions court which put a stay on May 4. On July 6, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed HSVP’s review petition.

With this, the HSVP may now either appeal in a higher court or provide land at other locations to resolve the matter.

HSVP-Gurugram administrator Chander Shekhar Khare said, “The MG Road underpass is in the larger interest of the people and HSPV will appeal for early hearing in the civil court to decide the case.”

There was no response from the contractor for comment on the matter.