SARDP in limbo as Centre grapples with controversies

With the Central Government mulling over a proposal to terminate the contract awarded to M/s Maytas-Gayatri for the highly controversial highway project in Nagaland, the works have come to a grinding halt and also caught NPWD unawares. It may also be recalled, that the chief engineer, PWD (NH) has on April 7 maintained that the department was yet to receive any directive on termination of the contract for widening of the four roads to two-lane roads.
The chief engineer had also claimed that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had appointed a consultant in February 2014 for preparation of the revised DPR and verification of quality executed by the contract firm, the report of which was awaited. The decision came close on the heels of the memorandum submitted by ACAUT Nagaland, to prime minister Narendra Modi on November 30 last year in Dimapur where he halted for the night after arrival from Imphal on his way to inaugurate the Hornbill Festival in Kohima on December 1.
National television channels, have recently highlighted the controversies surrounding the abnormal escalation. The cost of the four projects, awarded to M/s Maytas-Gayatri JV in December 2010, had escalated from Rs 1,296 crore to Rs 2,988 crore. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) awarded the Nagaland road project to IL&FS Engineering Services on February 3, 2011. The project value was Rs. 1131 crores in which IL&FS Engineering Services’ share is 62% and the period of project is 36 months.
Media reported that while the cost of the projected escalated, the length of the road decreased from 329 kilometers to 313 kilometers and on the other hand, the cost of construction has also increased from Rs.3.94 per kilometer to Rs.9.51 crore per kilometer.
The four roads, part of SARDP for Northeast, were passed by a high-powered committee as separate projects in 2010 under previous UPA minister Kamal Nath, who took a decision to club small projects to attract bigger players in Northeast.
The four projects – Chakhabama-Zunheboto (118 km), Pfutsero-Phek (74 km), Mon-Tamlu-Merangkong (105 km) and Changtongya-Longleng (32 km) – were clubbed and awarded to a single JV.
The work involves two laning of Longleng- Changtongya road, Mon-Tamlu-Merangkong road, Phek-Pfutsero road, and Zunheboto-Chakabama road in the state of Nagaland under Phase A of Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North Eastern Region (SARDP-NE)
IL&FS is one of the largest Financial Institutions (FIs) in the country, playing a catalytic role in the development of infrastructure projects across the country on PPP basis, and complementary array of financial services. IL&FS was promoted by the Unit Trust of India (UTI), Central Bank of India and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) in 1987.
Shocked at the sudden escalation of cost in 2012,which was more than the annual plan for Nagaland, MoRTH recommended a CBI probe. The ministry suspected that the contractor might have been involved in excavation rather than two-laning the road as the rates for earth-work were very lucrative. According to media reports, the NPWD (NH) had prepared the revised estimate for Gayatri-Maytas JV.