National Highways Authority of India

(Ministry of Road Transport & Highways)

Government of India

Four Laning of Barasat-Krishnagar Section of NH-34 from Km 31.000 to Km 115.000 in the State of West Bengal under

NHDP Phase-III on DBFOT (Annuity) Basis

MONTHLY JOINT SITE INSPECTION REPORT

April, 2016

LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

CONTENTS

Background ............................................................................................................................................................... 1

I. Scope of Work .................................................................................................................................................. 2

II. Site Inspection .................................................................................................................................................. 3

III. Findings in Joint Site Inspection ....................................................................................................................... 3

IV. SAFETY .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

V. RECOMMENDATION: ........................................................................................................................................ 8

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BACKGROUND

Article 13, clause no. 13.2 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 29.04.2016 vide this office letter

ref. no. LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016-1170, dated 28.04.2016.. The Joint Inspection was

conducted on 29.04.2016 by team of IE as no one from Concessionaire, EPC Contractor NHAI

Joined, the inspection. The Concessionaire was informed vide this office letter ref. no.

LASA/BK/IE/73426/2016-1170 dated 28.04.2016. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based

on the findings during site inspection by the team of IE (SQME, B/SE, QS, AHE-1, AQME-1

and Survey Engineer) and NHAI representative.

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 31.000 to 115.000

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-

Starting point of the Project Highway (2246’33””, 8830’13”), Kamdebpur (2247’13”,

8830’13”), Amdanga (2234’06”, 8830’27”), Gadamara (2254’00”, 8832’22”), Barajaguli,

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Chakdah (2304’52”, 8832’35”), Ranaghat, Phulia, Shantipur (2315’59”, 8826’50”),

Govindapur and Krishnagar(2322’40”, 8829’10”) and end point of the Project Highway

(2355’47”, 8828’08”) etc.

Map Showing Road Alignment of NH-34

I. SCOPE OF WORK

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 31.000 to km 115.000 (Existing

chainage) or 115.341 (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.

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.

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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 29.04.2016 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/73426/2016/1170, dated 28-

04-2016. During site Inspection, representative from Concessionaire and EPC Contractor

were not available. This Joint Site Inspection Report is based on the findings during site

inspection by the team comprising NHAI Representative and IE (SQME, B/SE, QS, AHE-1,

AQME-1 and Survey Engineer).

During the inspection it is observed that, Concessionaire has stopped all field activities and field staffs of Concessionaire and EPC Contractor were not available at site. Only the team of IE along with NHAI representative inspected the site.

III. FINDINGS IN JOINT SITE INSPECTION

1. There is no work at site from 07-01-2016 neither road work nor structures work except at

RUB at Km 112+247.Improvement of base of the box bed is in progress. Representative

of ITD Cementation (Sub-Contractor for RUB) site In-charge Mr. Bidhan Lodh and his

team was available at site. Joint Inspection team interacted with the team of ITD

Cementation. They reiterated that: as the work has been given to them directly from NHAI

at the risk and cost of the Concessionaire, they have resumed the work and establishing

Concrete batching plant, as Concessionaire has stopped work and there are no

Concessionaire representatives for supply of concrete as per their agreement.

At present they are pushing back the units C, D, E and F of left box. Site In-charge of ITD

Cementation explained that they are doing ground treatment (constructing thrust bed) at

the settled area after pushing back the boxes. As per ITD representative, they will start re-

push the one box from tomorrow as ground (bed) improvement is completed in some

extent. After pushing the box toward railway track, ground improved by constructing thrust

bed of left tunnel will be completed. Mr. Bidhan Lodh also mentioned that pushing of left

tunnel will be completed before monsoon and rest of the works will go simultaneously to

complete the RUB on stipulated time. At present there is no vacant place to cast new box

units, as the unit C, D, E and F are back pushed and kept in the vacant places. These

boxes will be kept in position after ground improvement and will be pushed under railway

track.

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Some break down of concrete has been noticed during pushing and repushing.ITD

Cementation representative instructed to maintained these breakdown in concrete and

agreed.

Close view of RUB tunnel under railway track

A view of thrust bed casted recently in left tunnel

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View of the right tunnel from railway track side

View of RUB Left Tunnel from Railway Track

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Preparation of pushing of box unit ‘C’ toward railway track in progress

Coarse Aggregate stock for concerting

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Break down in concrete during pushing of boxes

2. As the Concessionaire already abandoned the Project; no responsible personal were

available at site and no activities were in progress at site other than RUB work, further

inspection of Project Highway was not conducted.

IV. SAFETY

As the Concessionaire abandoned all of the ongoing works and left the sites unattended

without taking any preventive maintenance and safety measures. There are lot of ditches

all along the roads causing extreme safety hazards for the road users as well as resulting

frequent road accidents. Construction materials are scattered here and there at work sites,

reinforcement used for structures are left open at sites which may cause safety hazards

and injuries to road users and cattle.

Similarly, embankment slope were cut by the Concessionaire without any precautionary

measure in many places which may damage/ collapse due to rain cut and road may get

blocked.

ROB construction sites at Km 76+000 and Km 111+345 are left open without completing

piling and pile cap (LHS) work. These sites are full of danger as no safety measures are

adopted at these locations.

For the construction of Minor Bridge at Km 59+738, Concessionaire had excavated deep

ditch for foundation and cut the existing road slope without proper protection work. The

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site has become very dangerous for moving vehicles and road users. The safety

measures adopted by the Concessionaire are not sufficient. If adequate protection

measures are not adopted immediately, the road will collapse and may create huge safety

hazards during ensuing monsoon.

Construction site of VUP at Km 53+149, deep pond was excavated for construction of

bentonite tank and the same is kept open and unfilled which may cause deterioration and

failure of existing road.

Concessionaire had executed the culverts work partially and the reinforcement bars are

left open, work sites are not cordoned which may create safety hazard.

As directed PD, PIU, Krishnagar IE is preparing estimate for safeguard of site and will be

submitted shortly.

V. RECOMMENDATION:

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 requested to resume the work immediately and address the issues raised

by Independent Engineer in this Joint Site Inspection Report along with recommendations of

previous reports and correct/rectify the deficiencies at the earliest to achieve the quality works.

ITD Cementation is instructed submit the methodology Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) and

Safety Plan to assure the quality of work and safety of worker and road users during execution

of RUB work.