Metro fears losing contractors

kolkata: the eviction of encroachers along tolly's nullah may have come as a boost for metro railway authorities, but the apprehension that some major contractors may opt out of the 8.5-km tollygunge-garia extension project is giving them sleepless nights. metro authorities told tnn on tuesday that a big company had already asked to be relieved from the project."one of the big contractors has requested us for the closure of the contract in view of the uncertain and fluid situation caused by the encroachers," said metro chief engineer kisholoy gangopadhyay. he added that he would try to persuade the firm to stay on board in view of the beginning of the eviction process. the company, incidentally, could complete only 12 per cent of its work scheduled for the year 2000-01. metro chief administrative officer g.k. garg said that although the contractors had not indicated that they were opting out of the project, they might do so unless all the settlers were removed soon. alternatively, they might want the contract revised. "although there is provision for cost escalation in the contract, they might fix fresh rates," said garg. contracts have been awarded to five firms for civil construction work along the tollygunge-garia section of metro railway. only one firm could complete its work schedule in the last financial year, since the area it was assigned was on the surface from the tollygunge end and did not fall under the six-km stretch over tolly's nullah. metro authorities, however, said that if the eviction drive was complete they would be able to spend around rs 90 crore for the extension work out of rs 115 crore sanctioned this year. they also said that the project would be completed by 2005, provided all the encroachers were removed within a few days, although the total project cost which was estimated to be rs 953 crore would go up by another rs 60 crore due to the delay. gangopadhyay said that once the encroachers were removed, the authorities would start constructing the piles and then the pillars over which they would build the girders or the superstructure for laying out the railway tracks over the nullah. around 3,000 piles and 400 pillars will be built along the length of the nullah. work for the extension project, suspended during monsoon, will resume from october 15 but will gain momentum only with the completion of eviction.