The Indian Express              28.10.2013 

CP project in mess, NDMC scouts for new contractor

New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has decided to dismiss Engineers India Ltd (EIL), the agency responsible for Connaught Place redevelopment, because of their "casual approach" towards the project.

The council has also decided to outsource the remaining work to a "more professional company".

According to the chairperson of NDMC, Jalaj Srivastava, the work left unfinished by EIL will be handed to another company that can be penalised for not finishing the given task on time. "We will monitor the work closely on real time basis," Srivastava said.

"First, EIL missed several deadlines. Then, a blame game began when unfinished work that they should have taken care of was flagged out. We cannot penalise them because there is no clause for the same in their contract. We have now decided to take the project in our hands. We are going to remove EIL from all the works and we will carry out repair and maintenance ourselves," the chairman said.

The Rs 300-crore project took three years to reach completion, and yet, there are many areas where work is still incomplete. In fact, the project was scheduled for completion in October 2010 before the Commonwealth Games. But EIL kept missing deadlines.

While taking over the reins of the project, Srivastava also said NDMC would stick to the original plan to make offices, hotels and shops in Connaught Place centrally air-conditioned.

"The air conditioners placed on windows look ugly. The centralised air cooling system will improve the energy efficiency and will help in making the area look better," he said.