KOCHI: The Kerala government has asked the contractor responsible for the faulty construction of Palarivattom flyover to pay Rs 24.52 crore towards reconstruction cost.In a notice issued on January 1, the government stated RDS Projects Ltd, Kochi, failed to provide a “defect-free structure” as per the contract conditions.
“As a result, the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala Ltd, state government and public at large incurred heavy losses,” it stated. On October 25, 2019, the government had decided to reconstruct the flyover based on a report given by experts including Metroman E Sreedharan.
RDS challenged the decision in the High Court, which ordered to conduct a load test. The Supreme Court set aside the HC order and granted permission on September 22, 2020 to reconstruct the flyover.
The notice states RDS committed a “breach of terms of the contract”.
Despite repeated notice, the company failed to fulfil the contractual obligation to rectify defects, it added.The PWD manual states that, as per the general condition of the contract, the agreement authority has the power to cancel the contract and arrange the work otherwise in the event of default by the contractor.