Railways not to delay Bogibeel bridge: Velu
>From Ron Duarah
DIBRUGARH, July 3 Union Minister of State for Railways Ramasamy Velu today
told The Assam Tribune that the Rs 2200 crore Bogibeel bridge project would not
be allowed to be delayed. Our Government has announced Bogibeel as a national
project, which shows our sincerity for the North East... minor obstacles in
commissioning the project shall be overcome this month, he said.
Velu said all railway projects in the country are facing cost overruns due to
escalating prices of cement and steel, and that this factor has affected
Bogibeel too. He has convened a meeting of top railway engineers to sort out
the issue, and has scheduled this for July 9. He informed that the Member
(Engineering) of the Railway Board has been requested to work out modalities by
which national railway projects can be completed within the fixed schedules.
Meanwhile, the Dibrugarh MP, Sarbananda Sonowal has also met Velu at his office
in New Delhi this afternoon, where the Bogibeel project was discussed at
length. He told this reporter that the Minister appeared sincere in his
commitment of railway development in the North East. The MP informed the
Minister that the public opinion in Assam is for speedy completion of the
Bogibeel project as well as other railway development projects in the northeast.
A former IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Velu said the common man should
not be bogged down by technicalities, and that technical issues like extending
the validity of a global tender is within the realm of possibility. The
validity of the global tender for the Bogibeel bridge sub-structure, estimated
to cost Rs 322 crore as per 2004 prices has lapsed in April this year. This put
a big question mark over the time bound commissioning of the 4.3 kilometre
double lane BG track and three lane national highway bridge. Asked if the whole
process of re-floating the global tender would not push the bridge completion
date by three years, Velu said that certain mechanisms would be put in place
which would prevent any time delays. He also said that the fresh tender would
be put on a fast track and that this would take into consideration factors like
rise in the prices of all inputs. We would see to it that current market
prices of ingredients are factored in, so that contractors
cannot site this as a matter for future arbitration, he said.
The Bogibeel bridge sub-structure tender was allotted to a PSU, Hindustan
Construction Corporation after a keenly contested global tender. The company
backed out of the work after the Railways refused to consider a higher price
for the project, in the light of rising prices of cement and steel. The
companys engineers told this reporter in private that the work of the sub
structure would cost a minimum of Rs 400 crore, at June 2007 market prices of
key ingredients.
The proposed meeting on July 9 at New Delhi would be attended by top railway
engineers, where the Government would push for scheduled completion of the
national projects. It is likely as Velu has pointed out that price
increases of commodities like cement and steel would be favourably considered
with a bias towards the contractor(s). If this is indeed taken as a matter of
policy in view of market realities, several railway projects may eventually be
spared expensive cost overruns. This may also result in the actual
commissioning of the Bogibeel bridge by the year 2011.
(The Assam Tribune,04.07.2007)
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