Concrete pavement work may hit a roadblock over failure to appoint supervisory body
AIIB writes to CS for not appointing CSC
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 26 2025: Failure to appoint a Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) with regard to construction of rigid pavement or cement concrete road may hit a roadblock if a CSC is not appointed at the earliest.

Notably, construction of rigid pavements has already started in some areas of Imphal city under the Manipur Urban Drainage and Asset Management Improvement Project and the project is being funded by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) .

The AIIB sent a letter to the Chief Secretary informing that funds for the project may be frozen until a CSC is appointed.

Concrete pavement work may hit a roadblock over failure to appoint supervisory body

After cracks surfaced on the rigid pavement being constructed on Palace Compound road, The Sangai Express carried out an investigation and filed a report pointing out that failure to appoint a CSC may be one reason for the emergence of cracks.

Based on this report, the AIIB sent a letter to the Chief Secretary.

AIIB is of the opinion that there is no proper quality control in executing the Manipur Urban Drainage and Asset Management Improvement Project, sources said.

As per the project's agreement, a CSC must be compulsorily appointed to oversee quality and other key aspects of the project.

The project has a separate component of around Rs 70 crore for quality control.

The stipulated period for the project is three years and its maintenance period is five years.

The work of quality control and other key aspects of the project should be supervised by a CSC during this period.

Quality control is not the work of PWD which means construction supervision is not the work of PWD's engineers, said the sources.

A CSC should be appointed through a proper tender and the CSC thus appointed should have an office with 34 to 40 staff.

For this, the project has a component of around Rs 70 crore.

Tender has been held for appointment of a CSC but the tender file has been withheld midway without letting it reach the Higher Tender Committee.

It remains a big question as to why the tender file has been withheld, said the sources.

According to the letter sent by AIIB Manager, Transport Sector, Public Sector Clients Department-Region 1 (South Asia, South East Asia, Pacific Islands and Sub-Saharan Africa) Andres Pizaro to the Chief Secretary, approval was given twice on August 14 and September 12 for evaluation of the tender held for appointment of CSC.

But the tender file is being kept in cold storage without approval of the Higher Tender Committee.

Meanwhile, mobilization part of the project has been completed and execution of the project has already started.

It is said that the pace of executing the project would be accelerated before the onset of the next rainy season.

The letter sent by the AIIB to the Chief Secretary said that CSC would support PWD.

As per the project's agreement, CSC has key roles in ensuring proper quality in project implementation, civil works contract activity, environment, social and other safeguards.

It said that all these key roles should be handled by CSC.

As the CSC is entrusted to ensure successful implementation of the project, a CSC should be appointed before implementing the project.

But no CSC has been appointed till date.

The AIIB's letter categorically said that the project may be suspended and even a recommendation may be made to halt releasing the project's funds until a CSC is appointed.