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2 Metro contractors ousted over delays
Ahead of trial runs for two Metro rail corridors by the end of 2020, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has terminated the contracts of
Ahead of trial runs for two Metro rail corridors by the end of 2020, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has terminated the contracts of Simplex Infrastructure Ltd and a joint venture of RCC-MBZ contractors for Metro-7 (Dahisar East-Andheri East) and Metro-2B (DN Nagar-Mandale).
RA Rajeev, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA said, “MMRDA is serious about completing projects in time and is not going to spare any contractors for delaying the project. We gave the long rope to these agencies and after following all procedures we have terminated their contracts.”
Simplex Infrastructure was awarded a contract worth ₹1,080 crore to construct 12.7 km of Metro-2B and 5.5 km of Metro-7 in 2018. However, it achieved only 5.07% progress in Metro-2B and had made no progress in Metro-7 project, officials said.
RCC-MBZ was awarded a contract worth ₹521.29 crore for constructing 5.9 km of Metro-2B and the depot works at Mandale worth ₹390.44 crore. However, it achieved only 4.48% completion for Metro-2B and 6.98% for the depot. “It should have ideally completed 50% of the depot works in 36 months and 60% of the 2B works in 30 months,” an official from MMRDA said. Overall, only 6% of the civil works of Metro-2B has been completed as of December 2019. The project is expected to be completed by 2022.
MMRDA had issued 15 letters on the slow progress of works to the joint venture since the beginning of work. It has issued notices to contractors for slow progress of work. “Despite this, no significant progress was observed at the site in the past 4-5 months,” the official said. He also said that MMRDA has started the process of encashing the bank guarantees of the two contractors.
The authority has also issued tenders to appoint contractors for the remaining portion of Metro-7.
Representatives of both Simplex Infrastructure and RCC-MBZ were not available for comments.
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