‘Satisfied the road work likely to be another failure’
Dimapur, Mar. 4 (EMN): The Lotha Hoho has expressed loss of confidence in the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) of which the organisation stated was ‘not sincere’ in working on the controversial Wokha-Merapani highway.
The organisation issued a copy of a press release on Mar. 4 demanding that the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways stop paying ‘any running bill’ to the contractor without physical verification to ascertain the actual state of work.
According to the press release, the organisation had been observing for several months the progress of work on said road. Having been “satisfied that the ongoing road work is likely to be another failure,” the organisation had written to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways apprising the Centre about the ongoing rehabilitation-and-upgrade work on the Wokha-Merapani highway.
The organisation has declared that the NHIDCL ‘is not sincere in the implementation of the said work.’ The group explained the details: The total length of the road is 60/585 kilometres and the work is divided into three packages viz. 0/00 km to 26/00 km for INR 65 crore; 26/00 t0 48/00 km for INR 60 crore; and 48/00 km to 60/585 km for INR 65 crore.
“The tender for the said work had been accepted at 22% below scheduled rates and contract awarded to the M/S CS Infraconstruction Limited, Lucknow. The accepted tender rate at 22% below scheduled rates will reduce the work amount by INR 41.80 crore which consequently will affect the overall quality of the work,” the press release stated.
“That it is normally understood that the process of tendering and award of contract is to determine the capability of the contractors and the optimum rate; but not necessarily to choose the lowest tendered rate. The beneficiary fail to understand the reason why the NHIDCL had awarded the contract at such an extremely low rate!”
Further, the organisation stated that the head office of the NHIDCL (GM) in charge of the work was at Tezpur, and the ‘DGM’ at Sivasagar, both in Assam, “with no coordination office in Nagaland and hence not readily accessible from either side.”
The orgaisation informed to have met with the DGM at Sivasagar on Nov. 21 2017 requesting ‘compliance with specifications,’ to which the NHIDCL ‘agreed.’ However, the Lotha Hoho stated, in spite of repeated requests for consultation, the NHIDCL had been refusing to meet with the ‘beneficiary community monitoring-vigilance committee.’
The organisation listed out a number of instances that allegedly pointed to the corporation failing to turn up at meetings and one when they failed to produce authorization.
The Lotha Hoho explained further that the contract was for rehabilitation and to upgrade the road to a two-lane facility with carriageway of 7.00 meters for the plain sector; and 5.50 meters for the hilly terrain. Therefore, the organisation stated, the “formation cutting” must include “the shoulders as well as provision” for a drain.
“But the contractor is yet to start the widening earthwork; but instead started clearing the drain, has collected many hume pipes for construction of culverts, without widening; and has brought stone gravel and sand to start the surfacing,” the Lotha Hoho stated.
Further, the organisation stated that the work order stipulates completion of the work within 12 months, i.e., by the end of Sept. 2018. The Lotha Hoho is not satisfied with the progress of the work: ‘It fails to understand as to why the contractor should not follow the specifications of the DPR.’
When queried about the reason for it, the organisation stated, “The project coordinator (of CS Infraconstruction), one Mr. Rakesh Kumar Jain, clarified that the work is ongoing as per NHIDCL directions. Hence when viewed on the points of allowing extremely low tender rate by the NHIDCL and non supervision at work site, it can be inferred that the NHIDCL is not for quality work; but to seek for its own benefits only.”
The community group wonders why there was a need to create a third agency such as the NHIDCL only to meddle with existing agencies and to incur more expenditure when the National Highway Authority of India and the Nagaland state NH authorities were ‘readily available locally and keen to ensure quality work.’
‘For the stated reasons, the organisation stated, the “beneficiary Lotha community” had requested the ministry to either depute technical personnel from the ministry to inspect the work or that it authorise supervision of the work to the existing R&B division of Wokha of the Nagaland PWD (roads and bridges).
The organisation declared its claims to be ‘justified’ because the Wokha-Merapani highway is yet to be declared a national highway. Therefore, it stated, the roads and bridges department is responsible for the upkeep of the road.
‘The Lotha Hoho understands that the roads and bridges department will only do technical supervision so as to ensure compliance to specifications; but all other official formalities such as bill preparation and payment etc., will be done by the NHIDCL, normally,’ the press release stated.
The organisation assured that the “beneficiary Lotha organisations” are ‘keen to extend all possible help and cooperation to the NHIDCL and the contractor for the satisfactory implementation and commissioning of the road project.’
The Wokha-Merapani Highway being the lifeline of Wokha district and the project being a megaproject, the organisation stated to ‘do its best to check any irregularity and if necessary even seek legal recourse to achieve the desired objective.’
‘The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is therefore requested that no payment of any running bill to the contractor, is allowed without physical verification to ascertain the actual work achievement at site, and instead before any bill payment is made, to transfer the work to the charge of NHIDCL Nagaland office at Dimapur and authorize the Nagaland state PWD (roads and bridges) to supervise the work for better coordination,’ the press release added.
