Delhi’s Barapullah Elevated Road Phase-III project, long overdue and over budget, is back in the spotlight. Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena on Tuesday ordered a probe by the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) into a `175 crore payout made to the project’s contractor, blaming it on “negligence and mismanagement” by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government. The delay, has caused loss of hundreds of crores to the Government exchequer by way of cost overruns and payment of arbitration penalty due to the delay, to the private contractor, L&T.
According to Raj Niwas official, the role of previous ministers as well as officers of the Public Works Department (PWD), Revenue and Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) is under the scanner.
Raj Niwas official said, “The LG noted that the extraordinary delay in this project has raised some fundamental policy issues which must be addressed: Whether large projects of this nature should have arbitration clauses embedded in them, which provides incentive to contractors for making exorbitant claims as has been seen in other matters as well, even when the contractor is at fault? Similar instance was seen in the construction of the underpass near Bharat Mandapam by the same construction agency, in the face of glaring engineering defects which should have caused national embarrassment ahead of G20 Summit”.
“All executing department should be directed to ensure that regulatory approvals are in place prior to award of construction to avoid any such delays,” it said.
The Phase-III corridor was sanctioned in 2011 and construction began in 2015, with a 30-month deadline. The 6.2-kilometre stretch is intended to connect Sarai Kale Khan to Mayur Vihar Phase-III and decongest key traffic corridors between South and East Delhi.
The original estimated cost of the project was `1,260.63 crore, out of which `1,238.68 crore has been spent. The total project cost is now estimated at `1,330 crore.
