Post on 08-May-2018
National Highways Authority of India
(Ministry of Road Transport & Highways)
Government of India
Four Laning of Barasat-Krishnagar Section of NH-34 from Km 31.000 to Km 115.000 in the State of West Bengal under
NHDP Phase-III on DBFOT (Annuity) Basis
MONTHLY JOINT SITE INSPECTION REPORT
April, 2016
LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi
CONTENTS
Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 1
I. Scope of Work .................................................................................................................................................. 2
II. Site Inspection .................................................................................................................................................. 3
III. Findings in Joint Site Inspection ....................................................................................................................... 3
IV. SAFETY .............................................................................................................................................................. 7
V. RECOMMENDATION: ........................................................................................................................................ 8
1
BACKGROUND
Article 13, clause no. 13.2 of the Concession Agreement states that:
13.2 Inspection
“During the Construction Period the Independent Engineer shall inspect the Project
Highway at least once a month and make a report of such inspection (the “Inspection
Report”) stating in reasonable detail the defects or deficiencies, if any, with particular
reference to the Scope of the Project and Specifications and Standards. It shall send a
copy of the Inspection Report to the Authority and the Concessionaire within 7 (Seven)
days of such inspection and upon receipt thereof, the Concessionaire shall rectify and
remedy the defects or deficiencies, if any, stated in the Inspection Report. Such
inspection or submission of Inspection Report by the Independent Engineer shall not
relieve or absolve the Concessionaire of its obligation and liabilities hereunder in any
manner whatsoever”.
To comply with the requirement of the above clause of Concession Agreement, a Joint Site
Inspection program of the Project Highway was planned for 29.04.2016 vide this office letter
ref. no. LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016-1170, dated 28.04.2016.. The Joint Inspection was
conducted on 29.04.2016 by team of IE as no one from Concessionaire, EPC Contractor NHAI
Joined, the inspection. The Concessionaire was informed vide this office letter ref. no.
LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016-1170 dated 28.04.2016. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based
on the findings during site inspection by the team of IE (SQME, B/SE, QS, AHE-1, AQME-1
and Survey Engineer) and NHAI representative.
Project Brief
The NH-34 Barasat to Krishnagar Section in the state of West Bengal is located in the
northern part of Metropolitan city Kolkata. It is part of the proposed Barasat to Raiganj section.
The NH-34 is an integral component of the National and Regional road network. The project
highway described in this report is under construction and runs from Km 31.000 to 115.000
between Barasat to Krishnagar on NH 34 in the state of West Bengal.
The completed NH-34 will connect the traffic from Kolkata to Siliguri as well as facilitating the
movements between the State highways (SH), Major district roads (MDR) and other district
roads (ODR). The increase in car ownership, changes in land use and travel patterns have
resulted in congestion on many parts of the State road network including NH-34. The NH-34
currently not only functions as a main corridor to Nepal and Bangladesh but as an urban
collector/distributor between communities, employment and shopping centres.
The alignment traverses through two Districts: North 24 Parganas and Nadia. The terrain
along the project road is generally plain. The predominant land use along the project road is
agricultural with ribbon development near human settlements. At certain locations,
encroachments within the ROW have been observed in the form of Shops, Hotels, Dhabas
and various other commercial establishments. The road passes through towns of Santoshpur-
Starting point of the Project Highway (2246’33””, 8830’13”), Kamdebpur (2247’13”,
8830’13”), Amdanga (2234’06”, 8830’27”), Gadamara (2254’00”, 8832’22”), Barajaguli,
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Chakdah (2304’52”, 8832’35”), Ranaghat, Phulia, Shantipur (2315’59”, 8826’50”),
Govindapur and Krishnagar(2322’40”, 8829’10”) and end point of the Project Highway
(2355’47”, 8828’08”) etc.
Map Showing Road Alignment of NH-34
I. SCOPE OF WORK
The scope of the Access Controlled Highway Project as detailed in the concession Agreement
shall be broadly classified as follows:
Construction of Four Laning of NH-34 from km 31.000 to km 115.000 (Existing
chainage) or 115.341 (Designed chainage) in the state of West Bengal.
Construction of 2 nos of Major bridges, 5 nos of Minor Bridges, 134 nos of slab culverts
and 17 nos of Pipe culverts on main carriage way under New/widening/ Reconstruction
Scheme as per Schedule B of Concession Agreement.
Construction of 4 nos of ROBs, 1 no of RUB, 2 nos of Vehicular Underpass, 12 major
junctions, 14 nos of minor junctions, 1 no of toll plaza and others Schemed as per
Schedule B and Schedule C of Concession Agreement
During the entire construction period, the Project Highway is to be maintained by the
Concessionaire at his own cost from the appointed date.
Traffic Management and Safety of workers and the road users shall be maintained at all
times in accordance with the relevant IRC and relevant Codes as stipulated in the
Concession Agreement without any deviations.
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The scope of the work for the Project Highway also includes but not limited to the following:
Road side furniture
Pedestrian Facilities
Highway Lighting Systems
Junctions(Major & Minor)
Tree plantation and landscaping
Truck lay byes & Bus lay byes with bus shelters.
II. SITE INSPECTION
Joint Site Inspection program of the Project Highway was planned for 29.04.2016 by a joint
team comprising NHAI, IE, Concessionaire and EPC Contractor and the same was informed
to the Concessionaire vide this office letter ref. no. LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016/1170, dated 28-
04-2016. During site Inspection, representative from Concessionaire and EPC Contractor
were not available. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based on the findings during site
inspection by the team comprising NHAI Representative and IE (SQME, B/SE, QS, AHE-1,
AQME-1 and Survey Engineer).
During the inspection it is observed that, Concessionaire has stopped all field activities and field staffs of Concessionaire and EPC Contractor were not available at site. Only the team of IE along with NHAI representative inspected the site.
III. FINDINGS IN JOINT SITE INSPECTION
1. There is no work at site from 07-01-2016 neither road work nor structures work except at
RUB at Km 112+247.Improvement of base of the box bed is in progress. Representative
of ITD Cementation (Sub-Contractor for RUB) site In-charge Mr. Bidhan Lodh and his
team was available at site. Joint Inspection team interacted with the team of ITD
Cementation. They reiterated that: as the work has been given to them directly from NHAI
at the risk and cost of the Concessionaire, they have resumed the work and establishing
Concrete batching plant, as Concessionaire has stopped work and there are no
Concessionaire representatives for supply of concrete as per their agreement.
At present they are pushing back the units C, D, E and F of left box. Site In-charge of ITD
Cementation explained that they are doing ground treatment (constructing thrust bed) at
the settled area after pushing back the boxes. As per ITD representative, they will start re-
push the one box from tomorrow as ground (bed) improvement is completed in some
extent. After pushing the box toward railway track, ground improved by constructing thrust
bed of left tunnel will be completed. Mr. Bidhan Lodh also mentioned that pushing of left
tunnel will be completed before monsoon and rest of the works will go simultaneously to
complete the RUB on stipulated time. At present there is no vacant place to cast new box
units, as the unit C, D, E and F are back pushed and kept in the vacant places. These
boxes will be kept in position after ground improvement and will be pushed under railway
track.
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Some break down of concrete has been noticed during pushing and repushing.ITD
Cementation representative instructed to maintained these breakdown in concrete and
agreed.
Close view of RUB tunnel under railway track
A view of thrust bed casted recently in left tunnel
5
View of the right tunnel from railway track side
View of RUB Left Tunnel from Railway Track
6
Preparation of pushing of box unit ‘C’ toward railway track in progress
Coarse Aggregate stock for concerting
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Break down in concrete during pushing of boxes
2. As the Concessionaire already abandoned the Project; no responsible personal were
available at site and no activities were in progress at site other than RUB work, further
inspection of Project Highway was not conducted.
IV. SAFETY
As the Concessionaire abandoned all of the ongoing works and left the sites unattended
without taking any preventive maintenance and safety measures. There are lot of ditches
all along the roads causing extreme safety hazards for the road users as well as resulting
frequent road accidents. Construction materials are scattered here and there at work sites,
reinforcement used for structures are left open at sites which may cause safety hazards
and injuries to road users and cattle.
Similarly, embankment slope were cut by the Concessionaire without any precautionary
measure in many places which may damage/ collapse due to rain cut and road may get
blocked.
ROB construction sites at Km 76+000 and Km 111+345 are left open without completing
piling and pile cap (LHS) work. These sites are full of danger as no safety measures are
adopted at these locations.
For the construction of Minor Bridge at Km 59+738, Concessionaire had excavated deep
ditch for foundation and cut the existing road slope without proper protection work. The
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site has become very dangerous for moving vehicles and road users. The safety
measures adopted by the Concessionaire are not sufficient. If adequate protection
measures are not adopted immediately, the road will collapse and may create huge safety
hazards during ensuing monsoon.
Construction site of VUP at Km 53+149, deep pond was excavated for construction of
bentonite tank and the same is kept open and unfilled which may cause deterioration and
failure of existing road.
Concessionaire had executed the culverts work partially and the reinforcement bars are
left open, work sites are not cordoned which may create safety hazard.
As directed PD, PIU, Krishnagar IE is preparing estimate for safeguard of site and will be
submitted shortly.
V. RECOMMENDATION:
The concessionaire has not yet fully addressed/responded/complied the instructions /
comments / suggestions given by the Independent Engineer in previous Joint Inspection
Reports. It is again requested to resume the work immediately and address the issues raised
by Independent Engineer in this Joint Site Inspection Report along with recommendations of
previous reports and correct/rectify the deficiencies at the earliest to achieve the quality works.
ITD Cementation is instructed submit the methodology Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) and
Safety Plan to assure the quality of work and safety of worker and road users during execution
of RUB work.