Oriental College to Keithelmanbi section
Deadline expires, highway work crawls
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 07 2023:
The cons-truction/maintenance of 29.845 Kms road stretch from Oriental College to Keithelmanbi along National Highway-37 (Imphal-Jiribam road) remains incomplete despite the expiry of the deadline given to complete the work.
According to official sources, the highway stretch has to be upgraded to a double-lane road with paved shoulders under two packages with funding from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) .
The first package covers the length from Oriental College to Khumbong which is 12.665 Kms long while the second package starts from Khumbong and ends at Keithelmanbi (17.180 km) .
Reportedly, National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), a public sector undertaking of MoRTH, Government of India, is the implementing agency of the project.
The first package is being executed by M/S Sri Avantika I Contractors Limited and its project cost is Rs 78.99 crore.
The second package with sanctioned amount of Rs 120.74 crore is being executed by M/S CMM Infraprojects Limited.
The source went on to inform that the project was taken up on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode while the work orders were given to the two construction companies (M/S Sri Avantika I Contractors Limited and M/S CMM Infraprojects Limited) by NHIDCL after issuing a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) .
The Letter of Acceptance (LoA) of the first package was given on March 30, 2021 with July 1, 2021 as the appointed date for the commencement of the work and January 2, 2023 as the completion deadline.
Despite the expiry of the deadline, only 24.90 per cent of the work of the first package (Oriental College to Khumbong) has been completed, claimed the source.
The LoA of the second package (Khumbong to Keithelmanbi), on the other hand, was given on March 26, 2021 with July 11, 2021 as the appointed date for the commencement of the work.
Though the second package was to be completed by December 12, 2022, the implementing agency has so far constructed only 25.62 per cent (approx) of the road stretch, as per the official source .
Non-completion of the project along the highway stretch which is considered as the second lifeline of Manipur on time is not only causing great inconvenience to transporters and commuters but also posing a serious health risk to people living on either side of the road due to generation of huge volumes of dust.
Reportedly, NHIDCL is also unable to complete the construction/maintenance of a portion of Imphal-Ukhrul road from Yaingangpokpi to Finch Comer on time.