The Hindu : Faulty work delays NDMC building

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 13, 2003

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Faulty work delays NDMC building

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI FEB. 12. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is finding it hard to get its ambitious project -- New Delhi City Centre (NDCC) Phase- II -- completed by the State-owned National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC). Though the major portion of the project -- which was started way back in 1994 and is already delayed by over four years -- is complete, the finishing work is going on at a "very, very slow'' pace.

Even after the NDMC made a recent payment of Rs.26.99 lakhs to NBCC to meet its shortage of funds, the weekly review meetings found that "in spite of regular persuasion, the progress work of the NBCC has not increased''. Rectification of lift shafts, removal of defective cement plaster in lower basement, water proofing of lift pits and sealing of expansion joints are some of the works going on presently as part of the project which has faced many teething technical problems.

The project is already delayed by over four years and the new deadline is February 2004. Conceived in 1992, the NDCC Phase-II -- an 11-storey commercial project with three extended basements comprising a total built-up area of around 6 lakh square metres besides an exclusive cultural-cum-literary centre -- was to complete the skyline at Palika Kendra, the NDMC headquarters. Its foundation stone was laid way back on February 16, 1994 and was to be completed in four years at an estimated cost of Rs. 61.60 crores.

Interestingly, the project's cost has kept on escalating and it is now likely to touch Rs. 100 crores. That is not all. The delay has already cost the NDMC a revenue loss of Rs. 100 crores as the new building was to fetch the Council Rs. 25 crores as revenue annually. The project plan has already been modified at least twice leading to delay and now it is being built as an exclusive office complex equipped with all modern facilities.

Another setback to the project came a few months ago when the lift shafts were found to be faulty. Now out of the 14 shafts, two have been rectified while work on the other two is nearing completion. The verticality of six lift shafts has been checked and it was found "out of plumb beyond sixth floor level''. A specialised agency has now been contacted to carry our rectification work.

Similarly, dampness was noticed in four lift pits which had been treated. Defective cement plaster in lower basement, as noted by an expert committee, is also being removed and redone. While plumbing and sanitary work is just 60 per cent complete, dismal progress has been made in fire suppression work "which was abandoned by the contractor several times in past for which notices were served... now the work is at standstill position''.

``Interestingly, after so much of delay, the NDMC is unable to get the work completed from NBCC which had even been black-listed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for construction work on its projects. The DMRC had given some contracts to NBCC but was forced to review and withdraw them as the construction company was unable to meet its high professional standards,'' said a senior NDMC official, adding that the civic body should also serve an ultimatum on NBCC.

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