A firm constructing a portion of the airport-New Barrackpore Metro corridor has sought a compensation of over Rs 27 crore from Metro Railway, citing the stalling of work for two years and idle men and machinery.
“Under the circumstances, we are now submitting for your kind attention the expenses totalling an amount of Rs 27.03 crores already incurred by us over a period of more than last 21 months during which our plant, machines, manpower and the total set up remained idle and non-utilised… This has been brought to your kind notice for required redress,” Senbo Engineering, the company, wrote to Metro Railway on January 9.
A senior Metro official said the claim “was going through due process”.
The contractor got the work order in March 2022. But the work never took off.
“Height curbs issued by the airport authorities have stalled the construction. There are some issues pertaining to the boundary wall of the airport as well,” said a project official.
This newspaper had earlier reported on objections raised by the airport authorities over the use of cranes with a 30m arm in the construction.
Men and machines idling at Metro sites where work has stalled is nothing new in Kolkata.
Infrastructure giant L&T had pulled out of the same airport-Barasat stretch in 2013 because of the government’s refusal to remove encroachers from the land where tracks were to be built.
In the same year, Afcons had sought a compensation of Rs 257 crore from the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation — the implementing agency of East-West Metro — for being unable to start work on the stretch that was then supposed to be between Howrah Maidan and Central.
The January 9, 2024, letter is one of several that Senbo has written to the carrier, seeking speedy resumption of work, sources said.
The project
The 3.5km airport-New Barrackpore section is part of the Yellow Line between Noapara and Barasat. There are four stations in the section — Biman Bandar, Birati, Michael Nagar and New Barrackpore.
The tenders for the second and third phases of the link — between Birati and Michael Nagar (1.045km) and between Michael Nagar and New Barrackpore (0.74km) — were awarded to Senbo Engineering Ltd. The work order was issued in March 2022, said a source in the carrier.
The contractor was supposed to have completed the work in three years by the cut-and-cover method.
The tender for the first phase between the airport and Birati (1.77km) was floated in January 2022 but scrapped a few months later for some irregularities, said a source.
The problem
The height of the cranes, brought for the construction of the diaphragm wall of the underground tracks, is the main stumbling block.
A crane picks up pre-fabricated iron cages, raises them to a height of 30m above the ground and then lowers them into a pit below.
The airport authorities have said the crane’s arm can cause safety hazards for flights. At least three grabbing machines, used for excavating soil, and five cranes deployed by the contractor are lying idle on Jessore Road.
Project officials said “at least 550” diaphragm walls will have to be built between Birati and New Barrackpore.
In two years, only around 25 walls have been built.
The way ahead
The Metro authorities have held a series of deliberations with representatives of the Airport Authorities of India.
A team of experts from Delhi visited Kolkata in February to review the situation.
“The airport authorities have given us a leeway. They have allowed a height of 18m. But the discussions are still underway,” a Metro official said.
An official of the Kolkata airport said they had objected to certain proposals of Metro Railway. “They are yet to come up with a concrete alternate plan”.
P. Uday Kumar Reddy, the general manager of Metro Railway, said: “Metro will reach the airport by the end of this year. There are some problems beyond that. But we are hopeful of a speedy redress.”