Company executing project to suffer loss of Rs 74.38 lakh per day
Work on the Srinagar-Anantnag-Qazigund stretch of the national highway has missed yet another deadline, due to which RAMKY, the agency executing the project, will incur a loss of Rs 74.38 lakh per day.
The Hyderabad-based firm RAMKY was entrusted widening of the national highway this side of the Jawahar Tunnel, with the work on the project starting in June 2011.
The company was expected to complete the project in three years, after which the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was liable to pay Rs 135 crore to the company twice a year for 17 years.
After missing several deadlines due to inclement weather and slow pace of work, the company was given an extension for completion of construction.
“The extension was till December 2, 2015. The company was scheduled to complete the project by this date,” said RP Singh, regional head of the NHAI, over telephone from Jammu.
He said after the expiry of the deadline, RAMKY would not be liable to get any of the contracted money till the date of completion. “It is a kind of a fine it will pay us. It amounts to Rs 74.38 lakh per day,” he said.
For the general public, the highway missing yet another deadline was bad news. “We have been bearing the pathetic condition of this road for more than four years. The end does not seem to be in sight,” said Gulzar Ahmad, a taxi driver.
He shuttles between Srinagar and Anantnag on a daily basis. He said the highway had become a death trap. Frequent accidents had become the norm on the highway.
Minister for Public Works, Floriculture and Gardens and Parks Syed Altaf Bukhari expressed the hope that the project would be completed by July next year.
“The company has missed another deadline and will pay fine for that. We are pursuing the case and, hopefully, work will be completed by July next year,” he said.
