Article 13, clause no of the Concession Agreement states that:

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1 BACKGROUND Article 13, clause no of the Concession Agreement states that: 13.2 Inspection During the Construction Period the Independent Engineer shall inspect the Project Highway at least once a month and make a report of such inspection (the Inspection Report ) stating in reasonable detail the defects or deficiencies, if any, with particular reference to the Scope of the Project and Specifications and Standards. It shall send a copy of the Inspection Report to the Authority and the Concessionaire within 7 (Seven) days of such inspection and upon receipt thereof, the Concessionaire shall rectify and remedy the defects or deficiencies, if any, stated in the Inspection Report. Such inspection or submission of Inspection Report by the Independent Engineer shall not relieve or absolve the Concessionaire of its obligation and liabilities hereunder in any manner whatsoever. To comply with the requirement of the above clause of Concession Agreement, a Joint Site Inspection program of the Project Highway was planned for vide this office letter ref. no. LASA/BK/IE/73426/ , dated and accordingly informed to the Concessionaire and PIU-Krishnagar. The Joint Inspection was conducted on by team of IE as no one from Concessionaire and EPC Contractor joined joint inspection. Due to busy program, representative of NHAI/PIU-Krishnagar did not join the joint inspection. Therefore, the inspection was carried out by the team of Independent Engineer only. During site Inspection, it is observed that there were no activities at site. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based on the findings during site inspection by the team of IE (TL, B/SE, QS, AHE-1, AQME-1 and Survey Engineer). Project Brief The NH-34 Barasat to Krishnagar Section in the state of West Bengal is located in the northern part of Metropolitan city Kolkata. It is part of the proposed Barasat to Raiganj section. The NH-34 is an integral component of the National and Regional road network. The project highway described in this report is under construction and runs from Km to between Barasat to Krishnagar on NH 34 in the state of West Bengal. The completed NH-34 will connect the traffic from Kolkata to Siliguri as well as facilitating the movements between the State highways (SH), Major district roads (MDR) and other district roads (ODR). The increase in car ownership, changes in land use and travel patterns have resulted in congestion on many parts of the State road network including NH-34. The NH-34 currently not only functions as a main corridor to Nepal and Bangladesh but as an urban collector/distributor between communities, employment and shopping centres. The alignment traverses through two Districts: North 24 Parganas and Nadia. The terrain along the project road is generally plain. The predominant land use along the project road is agricultural with ribbon development near human settlements. At certain locations, encroachments within the ROW have been observed in the form of Shops, Hotels, Dhabas and various other commercial establishments. The road passes through towns of Santoshpur- 1

2 Starting point of the Project Highway ( , ), Kamdebpur ( , ), Amdanga ( , ), Gadamara ( , ), Barajaguli, Chakdah ( , ), Ranaghat, Phulia, Shantipur ( , ), Govindapur and Krishnagar( , ) and end point of the Project Highway ( , ) etc. I. SCOPE OF WORK Map Showing Road Alignment of NH-34 The scope of the Access Controlled Highway Project as detailed in the concession Agreement shall be broadly classified as follows: Construction of Four Laning of NH-34 from km to km (Existing chainage) or (Designed chainage) in the state of West Bengal. Construction of 2 nos of Major bridges, 5 nos of Minor Bridges, 134 nos of slab culverts and 17 nos of Pipe culverts on main carriage way under New/widening/ Reconstruction Scheme as per Schedule B of Concession Agreement. Construction of 4 nos of ROBs, 1 no of RUB, 2 nos of Vehicular Underpass, 12 major junctions, 14 nos of minor junctions, 1 no of toll plaza and others Schemed as per Schedule B and Schedule C of Concession Agreement During the entire construction period, the Project Highway is to be maintained by the Concessionaire at his own cost from the appointed date. 2

3 Traffic Management and Safety of workers and the road users shall be maintained at all times in accordance with the relevant IRC and relevant Codes as stipulated in the Concession Agreement without any deviations. The scope of the work for the Project Highway also includes but not limited to the following: Road side furniture Pedestrian Facilities Highway Lighting Systems Junctions(Major & Minor) Tree plantation and landscaping Truck lay byes & Bus lay byes with bus shelters. II. SITE INSPECTION Joint Site Inspection program of the Project Highway was planned for by a joint team comprising NHAI, IE, Concessionaire and EPC Contractor and the same was informed to the Concessionaire vide this office letter ref. no. LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016/1116, dated During site Inspection, NHAI Representative, Concessionaire s representative, Representative of EPC Contractor and other site engineers of EPC Contractor were not available. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based on solely the findings during site inspection by the team of IE (TL, B/SE, QS, AHE-1, AQME-1 and Survey Engineer). The inspection was started from Km During the inspection it is observed that, Concessionaire has stopped all his field activities and as no Concessionaire and EPC representative is not available to enquire. IE.s team independently visit the site from Km to Km and end the inspection. III. FINDINGS IN JOINT SITE INSPECTION There was no work at site neither road works nor structures as the Concessionaire stopped all activities at site from except wooden log piling at RUB for improvement of base of the tunnel. Representative of ITD Cementation (Sub-Contractor for RUB) DGM MrAbhijit Pyne and site In-charge Mr. Bidhan Lodh were available at site. IE s team interacted with them. They said that huge amount nearly six crores is pending with the Concessionaire as they have not released their payment since September They reiterated that the Concessionaire also refused to supply the concrete for the construction of RUB which was provisioned in contract agreement between them. 32 m of left box of RUB at Km has already been pushed by ITD Cementation, Sub-Contractor and stopped the pushing work from due to financial crisis. Presently the position of tunnel is in the middle of the Railway embankment. The cushion between top of the tunnel and railway track is filled by stone ballast. It will be very dangerous to stop the pushing of tunnel in present location. There will be severe safety issue, if the tunnel is kept in the position for long time. 3

4 1. Concessionaire s Km and Km As the Concessionaire ceased all construction activities, all equipment and machineries are brought back and parked at the Camps. No machine and manpower are available at site. Shifting and dumping of shuttering material from site to camp at Shifting and dumping of shuttering material from site to camp at

5 2. Km (RUB) Parking of equipment and plants at Km Camp As mentioned above, no work is going on site, except wooden log piling for improvement of the foundation of box (Tunnel). Representative of sub-contractor ITC Cementation said that they are in financial problem as their IPCs are not cleared by the Concessionaire. Their head office also instructed them to stop the work till release of IPCs. And accordingly, the box pushing work was stopped from It is our clear opinion that box pushing work cannot be stopped in present situation due to safety reason as the tunnel is just below the railway embankment. During joint inspection, it was observed that only wooden log piling work to strengthen the bearing capacity of soil below the box was in progress. 5

6 Wooden log piling for improvement of foundation 6

7 Tunnel under railway embankment. Status of Box Pushing 7

8 STATUS OF BOX PUSHING AS ON (RUB at Km ) 8

9 3. QC Laboratory & Concessionaire camp at Shantipur The only Concrete cube of M-35 grade pile concrete of ROB of Km (LHS), pile no. P1-04 from site of 28 days were tested and found satisfactory. Result enclosed in Annexure-I Concrete Cube Testing at QC Lab. 4. Progress of Structures and Highway works As the activities at site are totally Nil as the Concessionaire ceased the Construction activities at site from without any intimation to the Authority and Independent Engineer. Present status of structural work and highway work is as follows: Summary of Physical Progress as on 22 nd January, 2016 (after Concessionaire stopped activities at site from 7 th January, 2016) S No. Type of Work Unit Total Structures 9 Take-up by the Concessionaire 1 B.C. Nos P.C. Nos MNB Nos MJB Nos VUP Nos. 2 1

10 6 ROB Nos RUB Nos. 1 1 Total Nos Road Work Equivalent 2-laning Km Equivalent 4-laning Km Numbers of km taken-up Km DBM Completed (Equivalent 4-laning) Km There were no construction activities other than above mentioned works throughout entire Project Highway. 5. Safety During joint inspection, it is found that the Concessionaire has stopped all activities at site from IV. RECOMMENDATION: The Concessionaire is instructed is instructed to resume the box pushing work of RUB at Km at the earliest. If the same is not resumed, there would be safety issue for the users. Similarly, Railway Authority cannot wait for long time for slow movement of train at this location. It is also instructed to resume other construction activities at the earliest. The concessionaire has not yet fully addressed/responded/complied the instructions / comments / suggestions given by the Independent Engineer in previous Joint Inspection Reports. It is again recommended to address the issues raised by Independent Engineer in this Joint Site Inspection Report along with previous reports and correct/rectify the deficiencies at the earliest to achieve the quality works. Similarly, it is recommended to adopt proper and adequate safety measures for construction zone as well as construction labours. Similarly, it is advised to strictly follow Safety Manual submitted by BKEL on 16/02/2013 vide their letter ref. no. BKEL/NH-34/LASA/TL/2013/066 and recommendation of safety Consultant and safety expert. It is also advised to continue the work as lot of encumbrance free land (64 Km) is available with the Concessioanire for four lanning. 10

11 CONTENTS Background... 1 I. Scope of Work... 2 II. Site Inspection... 3 III. Findings in Joint Site Inspection Concessionaire s Km and Km Km (Jalangi Major Bridge)... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3. Km (RUB) QC Laboratory & Concessionaire camp at Shantipur Progress of Structures and Highway works Safety IV. Recommendation:... 10

12 National Highways Authority of India (Ministry of Road Transport & Highways) Government of India Four Laning of Barasat-Krishnagar Section of NH-34 from Km to Km in the State of West Bengal under NHDP Phase-III on DBFOT (Annuity) Basis MONTHLY JOINT SITE INSPECTION REPORT January, 2016 LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

13 Annexure-I