KOCHI: The misery of the road users at Vyttila and Kundannoor may prolong further with fund crunch hitting the construction of the flyovers. The deadline of March 2020 to finish the work may be missed due to the delay in clearing the pending bills of the contractors by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).It has to pay arrears of `13 crore to Sreedhanya Constructions and `9 crore to Marymatha Constructions building the Vyttilla and Kundanoor flyovers respectively.
“Except the interim allocation of `1.45 crore, the KIIFB is yet to approve the bills of `13 crore pending since July as per the revised estimate. We met the KIIFB officials on Tuesday and they promised to allocate the amount immediately. Earlier, we had written letters to the Road Fund Board citing our inability to meet the deadlines following funds crunch. Due to these issues, we were unable to purchase the necessary materials,” said a representative of Sreedhanya Constructions.
Though Marymatha Constructions face similar issues, the officials are hopeful of a turnaround. “We have pending bills of `9 crore due to the variation in the first estimate. As per the request from Kochi Refinery, we have changed the centre span height from 5.5 m to 6 m necessitating the construction of an additional span at one end. Besides, there are minor changes in the approach road and additional works were done to mitigate waterlogging,” said an official of Marymatha constructions.
Meanwhile, PWD Minister G Sudhakaran told TNIE that the contracting firms could approach him in the matter. “The contractors are yet to approach me. It might be a technical issue and will soon be cleared by KIIFB. If it gets delayed further, the firms can directly contact me,” he said.However, KIIFB officials have clarified that the Vytilla flyover bills have already been approved. “We approved the bills of Vyttila flyover on Tuesday and the Kundannoor bills are under process. As they are our priority projects, we will complete them within the deadline,” said K M Abraham, CEO, KIIFB.
The former chief secretary has attributed the delay to the lack of quality in the design for the deviation. “KIIFB has to be on vigil in such situations. As the revised estimates come in crores, we have to technically vet them to avoid further consequences. If we didn’t follow the due process, many allegations will emerge later. Ideally, the revisions should be avoided in such big-ticket projects,” said Abraham.
Vyttila flyover
Foundation stone laid: February 2016
Commencement of work: December 2017
E78.36 cr
Estimated cost (including approach road)
Total length of flyover: 702.41m
Height of centre portion of the flyover: 8m
Total number of spans: 12
Largest span: 40 m at the centre
Contractor: Sreedhanya Constructions
Works halted on: July 18, 2019
Kundannoor flyover
Foundation stone laid: May 2018
Commencement of work: June 2018
Estimated cost: E74.45 cr
Total length of flyover: 445m
Height of centre span of flyover:6.5m
Total number of spans: 15
Largest span: 30m
Contractor: Marymatha Constructions
Bills of Kundannoor flyover are under process, says a KIIFB official.