Nagpur: In a major development, Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Ltd (NSSCDCL) has hit another roadblock in developing Nagpur as Smart City. The NSSCDCL, while rejecting the claim of damages sought by M/s Shapoorji Pallonji, the Board of Directors decided to cancel its Rs 630 crore contract for Smart City, according to reports in local media.
According to reports, a meeting of the Board of Directors of NSSCDCL was held under the Chairmanship of Chairman and Mentor of Nagpur Smart City, Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, on Friday, at the Smart City office in the Administrative Building of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The Board members including District Collector Dr Vipin Itankar, Independent Directors Aniruddha Shenwai and Ashish Mukim and Smart City Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chinmay Gotmare were present in the meeting.
A press release from NSSCDCL stated that the decision about foreclosure of contract had approval from the Special Purpose Vehicle of Shapoorji Pallonji that was formed for Smart City work, albeit post payment of compensation of Rs 15.25 crore as against claim of Rs 448.58 crore. At the meeting, the Board of Directors approved the foreclosure of the contract agreement with M/s Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Pvt Limited (SPCPL) saying the company failed to complete the work within an extended timeframe up to June 30, 2022.
M/s Shapoorji Pallonji Company, a major player in infrastructure field, was awarded work for design and construction of roads, bridges, culverts, sidewalks, and MEP works, PHE works including associated civil works on Tender Sure concepts in Area Based Development Area in East Nagpur. Total cost of the project was envisaged to be around Rs 650 crore. Gotmare said the work order was issued on August 10, 2018, and the time frame for completion was 18 months.
The contractor was required to construct 49.76 kms of roads, 28 bridges and culverts, 4 ESRs and allied MEP works including associated civil work. NSSCDCL granted three extensions to the company to complete the scheduled work. Till date, work for 12.36 kms road length, 1 major bridge, 9 minor bridges and 4 ESRs were only completed by the contractor up to June 30, 2022. Sometimes back, the contractor expressed his inability to complete the work within the extended time limit and on top of that they issued a notice seeking compensation of Rs 448.58 crores from NSSCDCL citing lack of clearances as to reasons for delay and non completion of the allotted work.
NSSCDCL referred the notice of the contractor to PMU and also analysed the issues raised by the company and rejected all the claims. Smart City later examined the actual work carried out by the contractor i.e. SPCL and a joint inspection and measurement of the same was done. After several rounds of discussion with the SPCL, NSSCDCL decided to pay SPCL only Rs 15.25 crore (excluding GST) as a full and final settlement of the bill which was agreed by the SPCL team, said the NSSCDCL statement.
The company has also agreed to maintain the infrastructure created by them and fulfil all the legal responsibilities thereof. The NSSCDCL has decided to complete the remaining work of Tender SURE project by appointing multiple agencies through tender process, after technical analysis and evaluation of the said work as per ground requirement. The Board of Directors at its meeting today also approved the project of implementation of bi-cycle track and cycle infra and its allied place making interventions under Third Round of Place making as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav launched by Government of India.
NSSCDCL has received a prize of Rs 1 crore from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under India Cycle for Change Challenge programme. Now, it has decided to utilise this fund for the bicycle track and cycle infra for the citizens.
