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NEW DELHI: Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday called out engineers and officers for focusing more on bidding out projects even without having enough land, which causes delays and results in disputes. He also slammed consultants preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) for NH projects, saying not a single DPR in the last 10 years was perfect.
Addressing a conference on ‘Quality of DPR and Construction of Highway Projects’, Gadkari said that government officers have contributed to some companies going bust. “It doesn’t look good on my part to say this. But officials in NHAI and other government organisations have ensured some companies go bankrupt by not taking decisions. The companies have stopped working,” he said.
Citing an example of how systemic problems have hit the sector, Gadkari said a former chief of a highway organisation went on awarding highway projects even when they had barely 10-20% of the land required for carrying out works. “Today, all those projects are delayed and there are disputes,” he said.
Gadkari also recalled one of his interactions with officials and contractors in Karnataka where he was told about the high number of disputes. “I asked why the contractors signed for projects when there was less than 40% land available. They did so only for 10% mobilisation advance and took it because they had to buy peace for the future. I told them they distributed money to officers and politicians in advance. The contractors took projects after giving in writing that they have got full land. This resulted in cost escalation and disputes,” he said.
In his address, he said the quality of DPRs and the consultants preparing them have “pained” him all these years. He urged them to come up with time-bound and qualitative systems for preparation of good quality reports since these are key for development of any road stretch. The minister said consultants can raise the cost for preparing DPRs, if needed, as these can ultimately save money and ensure timely completion of projects.
Gadkari said that the government is ready to accept, if you raise the DPR cost by 2% for high quality reports as it will help us to save 25% of the construction cost and reduce the number of litigation and arbitrations in the sector. He said there is a need to go for project management consultancy (PMC) system and step-wise payment to DPR consultants linked to the progress and quality work.
Addressing a conference on ‘Quality of DPR and Construction of Highway Projects’, Gadkari said that government officers have contributed to some companies going bust. “It doesn’t look good on my part to say this. But officials in NHAI and other government organisations have ensured some companies go bankrupt by not taking decisions. The companies have stopped working,” he said.
Citing an example of how systemic problems have hit the sector, Gadkari said a former chief of a highway organisation went on awarding highway projects even when they had barely 10-20% of the land required for carrying out works. “Today, all those projects are delayed and there are disputes,” he said.
Gadkari also recalled one of his interactions with officials and contractors in Karnataka where he was told about the high number of disputes. “I asked why the contractors signed for projects when there was less than 40% land available. They did so only for 10% mobilisation advance and took it because they had to buy peace for the future. I told them they distributed money to officers and politicians in advance. The contractors took projects after giving in writing that they have got full land. This resulted in cost escalation and disputes,” he said.
In his address, he said the quality of DPRs and the consultants preparing them have “pained” him all these years. He urged them to come up with time-bound and qualitative systems for preparation of good quality reports since these are key for development of any road stretch. The minister said consultants can raise the cost for preparing DPRs, if needed, as these can ultimately save money and ensure timely completion of projects.
Gadkari said that the government is ready to accept, if you raise the DPR cost by 2% for high quality reports as it will help us to save 25% of the construction cost and reduce the number of litigation and arbitrations in the sector. He said there is a need to go for project management consultancy (PMC) system and step-wise payment to DPR consultants linked to the progress and quality work.
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