Work on Chenani-Nashri tunnel going at snail’s pace

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 28

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” could be the right phrase to describe the fate of work on the prestigious 9.2-km-long Chenani-Nashri tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway.

After Leighton Contactors India, accused of “Rs 1,000 crore over-billing”, left the work midway, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services limited (IL&FS) sublet the work to six companies.

This has slowed down the pace of work and the possibility of completion of the work within stipulated time is bleak. The deadline for completion of the work is June, 2016, but after the controversy between IL&FS and Leighton India hit the project, the work had to be stopped for a few months. Now, when it has restarted, it is going at a snail’s pace.

The work on India’s largest road tunnel, costing Rs 2,518 crore, was started in May, 2012,. This tunnel is part of the four-lanning north-south corridor project and its contract was awarded to IL&FS by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). The work involves construction of a 10.9 km-long highway, including two 9 km-long tunnels, a 50 m-long single-span bridge that requires 600 m of embankments and slope cuttings and a 40 m-long single span bridge with 2 km of surface works.

The New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) of sequential excavation and support was being used to construct the tunnel, but since Leighton left the work, the project has been facing many problems.

Sources told The Tribune that the current situation was because of the controversy of over-billing by Leighton India. “They had given extra bills of Rs 1,000 crore to IL&FS, which included over-break during excavation and managing existing national highway. These bills were not part of the actual amount of Rs 2,518 crore,” said the sources.

“The IL&FS was furious with this approach of Leighton India and the later was resorting to blackmailing tactics to get the job done. When no middle path was reached, Leighton left the work midway and work had to be stopped for a few months,” the sources added.

The sources said the companies currently involved in the construction work were facing difficulties in carrying on the good work. When contacted, there was no response from Leighton India office in Mumbai and Gurgaon on the issue.