Contractor dashes Guwahati city's hope for proper water supply

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The long wait of the residents of Guwahati for a regular supply of potable water will now extend further with the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) terminating its contract with Gammon Engineers and Contractors Private Limited (earlier known as Gammon India Limited) for design and construction of a big water supply project in the city.

It is a very much on the cards that the process of inviting tenders, award of contract and execution of works will now take place afresh, resulting in the vigil of the city-dwellers for potable water becoming longer and longer.

GMDA had awarded the Rs 355-crore contract for construction of the South West Guwahati Water Project, which was supposed to provide water to 4.5 lakh households, to Gammon Engineers and Contractors Private Limited in 2009. However, the company failed to execute the project even after 13 years, although it was one of the four major water supply projects in the city.

As per the contract, the company was expected to complete the execution and delivery of 54 distribution points within 30 months, but the company has completed only four distribution points despite having been given numerous extensions of deadline. Only 1,500 households have been provided water so far, official sources said.

GMDA CEO Kaushar Hillaly has said regarding the termination of the contract, "In spite of numerous extensions, the rate of progress of the work remained slow and the contractor failed to discharge contractual obligations." Hillaly further said that the work has remained incomplete even though the GMDA has paid all amounts payable to the contractor. He said that the company failed to provide the 'as-built' drawings despite repeated requests.

It is pertinent to mention that as a measure of conciliation, a supplementary agreement was executed between the contractor and the GMDA last year, under which the contractor was required to maintain progress of the work and expedite the project.

However, the GMDA CEO said that the contractor has once again failed to meet the latest deadline.

Hillaly admitted that it is difficult to immediately specify a new time-frame for completion of the South West Guwahati Water Project because official procedures take time. The first priority now is to identify the gaps in work and examine how much work remains undone, he said, adding that new tenders will be floated only after that process is completed.

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