Chennai: On Saturday, when a tunnel boring machine broke through its final barrier on the five-km long Shenoy Nagar- Thirumangalam stretch of the Metro rail in the city, there was a spontaneous round of applause. Even as Chennai Metro celebrated, construction on other sections has virtually come to a grinding halt as cash strapped contractors hired by Metro struggle amid an economic slump.
The worst affected is the Government Estate-Saidapet stretch, which is being constructed by Gammon India and Russian firm OJSC Mosmetrostroy. Scheduled to be completed by March 2016, the stretch will now be ready sometime in 2017, given the present pace of work. Of the four tunnel boring machines stationed in the underbelly of Mount Road, only two are operational. Metro officials say that the engineering and construction company does not have the funds to maintain and keep all four running, resulting in inordinate delays.
Moreover, underground station sites that need at least 2,000 workers to keep up with the existing work schedule are working at half strength. The construction of the Chennai Metro Rail has hit a roadblock with cash strapped contractors failing to meet deadlines. Besides machinery, at the stretches being constructed by Gammon, there is also a shortage of workers.
“Salaries haven’t been paid for two months and there is the constant threat of qualified workers leaving. A lot of their money is stuck in other infrastructure projects across the country,” said a Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) official, not willing to be named. Gammon is the third contractor that Chennai Metro is having problems with. Earlier this year, CM RL cancelled the contracts of LANCO and CCL, who were both working on elevated stretches of the project. Both firms repeatedly failed to meet deadlines. They were replaced by multiple parties that are not completing the work.
“But we can’t terminate Gammon’s contract so easily,” says the official. “On the elevated stretch, the expertise required is less and we were able to find replacement. But not everyone specialises in underground work.” Moreover, Gammon has four machines under Mount Road. “It will take at least six months to remove all their equipment and that will only mean more delays for us,” says the official. Instead, we are trying to pressurise them to keep working at a steady pace.” Gammon- OJSC Mosmetrostroy won the Chennai Metro contract for this section, which includes an underground stretch of more than six kms, in 2011.
In 2014, as Gammon India battles a credit crunch, work has been badly affected.Like other infrastructure companies, Gammon India has been struggling amid a slump in economic growth, which fell to a decade-low of 5% last year. While the firms have been putting new investments on hold, they are also battling a credit crunch amid high borrowing costs.
As reported in financial papers recently, creditors have approved a Rs13,500 crore corporate debt restructuring package for Gammon, giving them a break from the crisis.Buoyed by this, Gammon officials in Chennai reassure that the city’s metro project is their top priority. “We have a tight budget but are ensuring that total money needed for this project is available,” says D. Saha, Gammon’s project director for the Chennai metro. “Our revised schedules have been approved and construction is going on. We anticipate only a six month delay.”
“There is no question of revised targets anymore,” says Pankaj Bansal, Managing Director of CMR. “We have now asked them to show us money, men and material on ground. We are going to monitor work on a daily basis.”
