Completion of bus terminus likely to be delayed

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, DEC. 4. Pressure is mounting over the completion of the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) project which seems to be heading towards inevitable delay. The attempts to inaugurate the project before the elections could be dampened with contractors being posed with an advanced deadline.

The recent rains has added to the woes of the contractors undertaking the project, when an independent slab sheltering a walk-way inside the ongoing bus terminus project collapsed on Thursday evening.

Though the incident, in which no casualty was reported, sent shockwaves among the contractors and officials, the Minister in- Charge of the CMDA, Mr. K. Ponmudi, is said to have ordered a report on it at record speed.

Sources said after the Minister was informed about the collapse on December 1, an order was issued directing the CMDA to deploy an engineering committee to study the cause and submit a report by December 7.

While the committee constituted by the CMDA, comprising experts from the department of Highways Research Studies (HRS), IIT and Anna University, are conducting the study, the work to cast rings and construction of the main dome will be halted.

It is expected that more time will be taken to carry out a detailed study to ensure that the problem will not persist during or after the construction of the main dome or the bus bays.

Severe damage and threat to lives is inevitable if the huge structure is constructed without a detailed review at this stage, officials felt.

The 34 acres of land that had been earmarked for the bus terminus was initially a sewage farm. It had been studied for feasibility initially by experts from the Anna University.

The CMDA had sought land further away from the sewage farm in Koyambedu. However, the land required by the agency was sanctioned for the construction of the SAF games village.

The feasibility study of the sewage farm which was finally allocated for the CMBT was `comprehensive and convincing', CMDA officials said. There was no possibility of the structure sinking in as a hard friction piling foundation had been laid before raising the structures, they said.

Preliminary reviews to the damage hinted at the complex design involved which could have collapsed in the wind, they said. Meanwhile, it had become apparent that the project was unlikely to be completed by mid February as announced by the Minister recently.

The contract period for the project expired only by May, 2001, but the contractors were now being asked to complete it by February.

With more funds sought by the contractors to employ additional manpower also being rejected, the contractors have made it clear that completion of the project with a shorter deadline was not possible.

It is now hoped that at least the passengers resting hall and the bus bays would be completed by the expected date, which could enable `at least partial functioning' of the terminus sources added.

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