MMRDA issues notices to Mumbai Metro 7 contractors for ‘poor progress’

Three companies have been rapped for “poor” and “slow” progress of work on the 16.5-km corridor

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has said it’s not happy with the slow pace of civil construction of the Dahisar – Andheri Metro 7 corridor. The MMRDA through its general consultants has sent notices to three contractors — Simplex Infrastructure Ltd, NCC Ltd, and J Kumar Infraprojects Ltd — pointing out the “slippages” in activities that could lead to delay in project completion.

MMRDA officials feel the slow pace could affect the timeline of the project (Representative Picture)

As per the notices to the contractors accessed by HT, the three companies have been rapped for “poor” and “slow” progress of work on the 16.5-km corridor. “It is observed that there are many slippages in various activities with reference to programme. This is due to inadequate resources like machinery, manpower, etc. deployed,” reads the notice dated August 11.

MMRDA officials feel the slow pace could affect the timeline of the project as the state government plans to commission the Metro line by end of 2019. Pravin Darade, additional metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said the progress of the civil construction is slow. The three companies were issued similar notices on July 4.

In a recent notice to Simplex Infrastructure Ltd. the MMRDA said it has deployed only 320 labourers at site against the requirement of 600. Similarly, J Kumar Infraprojects had deployed 395 labourers against the required 600 and NCC had deployed only 318 labourers against a similar requirement. “They can actually finish work faster if they mobilise adequate workforce. Our target is to commission the corridor by 2019,” Darade said.

The nodal agency for the project also raised concerns over the timely completion of the project. “We have an apprehension that at the current rate of progress, it seems difficult to achieve the target as per the contract unless certain immediate remedial measures are taken at your end to mitigate the shortfall in progress,” the notice added. The general consultants for the project, Ayesa-Italferr-CEG-Ayesa India JV (AICA), has directed the three contractors to mobilise adequate resources well before September 30 “to exhibit progress in accordance” with the contract.

J Kumar spokesperson said the progress has been slow for various reasons. “The stone quarries that are shut are resulting in lack of construction material; utility shifting takes a bulk of our time and resources, and lastly the heavy monsoon had slowed the pace. But now we are getting aggregate material from Nashik and Pune and have made good progress in August,” the spokesperson said. When asked why were only half the required labourers were deployed, the spokesperson said, “There is no shortage of labourers. Since construction material was not adequate and it was raining a lot, less labourers were deployed to prevent idling.”

Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, Simplex and NCC did not comment on the notices issued by MMRDA. A detailed email query sent to all three contractors remained unanswered till the time of going to press.