Kochi: The state government will bear the cost of repair of Palarivattom flyover initially but recoup the amount from contractor ‘RDS Ltd’ later through legal course, PWD minister G. Sudhakaran said.
The clarification comes amid concerns that the repair might be done with tax payers’ money. The three-year Defects Liab-ility Period (DLP) of the RDS is set to end on October 12.
“Since the defect occurred within the DLP period, the RDS is legally bound to meet not only the cost of initial repair carried out by the IIT Chennai team but also that of the reconstruction to be carried out under the guidance of E. Sreedharan. The actual cost will be known on the latter submitting a Detailed Project Report. The current estimate for the work scheduled to be completed by October 2020 is `20 crore,” the minister told DC.
As the RDS officials are already facing legal action thanks to the Vigilance probe, the government will fund the repair initially so that restoration activities won’t suffer any delay.
“The IIT team carried out surface repair work but it proved not sufficient as experts submitted that a guarantee for the flyover’s longevity cannot be provided. Hence we went for its reconstruction. The contractor is legally bound to meet all costs to restore the bridge,” Sudhakaran clarified.
Earlier, RDS Ltd had agreed to bear the cost of rectification work suggested by the IIT team which was against reconstruction of the bridge and advocated rectifying cracks on girders and piers using Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) method (Carbon Fibre Wrappings).
The reconstruction is set to commence by October first week and the state government gave in-principle nod for engaging Kozhikode-based Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society (ULCCS Ltd).
According to sources, all 17 reinforced concrete cement girders of the 750-metre bridge will be demolished and replaced with PSC ones while pier and pier-caps will be strengthened using reinforced concrete.
RBDCK awarded the project contract to RDS Ltd on a total cost of Rs 41.28 crore against the estimated cost of Rs 47.70 crore and the construction started in September 2012.
The bridge, designed with a new concept of deck continuity joint system, was opened for traffic in October 2016. However, cracks on the girders and piers started developing. A study by the IIT team revealed serious construction deficiencies.
