NH-66 stretch collapse in Kerala: NHAI suspends its project director, asks contractor to bear costs
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has suspended its project director and terminated the service of a site engineer in connection with the collapse of a stretch of National Highway-66 at Kooriyad in Kerala's Malappuram district. The NHAI also said that the contractor or concessionaire of the project will have to clear the debris and reconstruct the flyover at their own cost.
On May 19, a 250-metre stretch of the elevated highway at Kooriyad caved in. On the basis of an assessment by a team of experts, the NHAI said the cave-in was most likely due to inability of the foundation soil to support the high embankment load.
The 39.7-km project from Ramanattukara to the start of the Valanchery bypass of NH-66 is 99 per cent complete. The total cost of the project is Rs 2,368 crore.
The NHAI said the team of experts, comprising Dr Anil Dixit of IIT Delhi; Dr Jimmy Thomas of IIT-Kanpur; Dr K Mohan Krishna of IIT-Gandhinagar and retired IIT-Delhi professor G V Rao, was constituted the day the cave-in occurred. 'The expert team visited the site on May 21 to analyse the failure and recommend remedial measures. The preliminary assessment suggests that the failure is due to inability of the foundation soils to support the high embankment loads,' said an official.
After the incident, NHAI suspended the Hyderabad-based concessionaire of the project, KNR Constructions, from participating in future bids, along with a show-cause notice to levy monetary penalty of Rs 11.8 crore and debarment for up to one year.
'The project manager of the concessionaire was also suspended. The concessionaire is also required to clear the debris and rectify the damage by constructing a new flyover at their own cost (Rs 80 crore approx),' said the official.
Apart from the concessionaire, the independent engineer of the project, Highway Engineering Consultant, and its team leader was also suspended. On May 29, NHAI issued a show-cause notice to design consultant Strata Geosystem and HBS Infra Engineers and safety consultant Sri Infotech for debarment up to one year and a penalty of Rs 20 lakh.
After the incident, on May 24, NHAI also constituted an additional expert committee comprising a retired CRRI scientist, an associate professor from IIT-Palakkad and Deputy Director General from Geological Survey of India (GSI) to assess other potentially vulnerable locations of reinforced soil (RS) walls and slope protection works in 17 ongoing projects on NH-66 in Kerala.
Dheeraj Mishra is a Principal correspondent with The Indian Express, Business Bureau. He covers India's two key ministries- Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. He frequently uses the Right to Information (RTI) Act for his stories, which have resulted in many impactful reports. ... Read More
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