Category: Infrastructure

Nagpur:- The State Department of Public Works (PWD) has begun the construction of two smart compost projects at government quarters, Ravi Nagar. The plan is to produce an 850 quarter compost and the leaf litter produced in the colony from kitchen waste. It will be the first of its kind town project and a blueprint for other townships and flat schemes.

PWD has resumed work at a few of its projects after stopping due to lockdown for over 50 days. PWD superintendent engineer Vidyadhar Sardeshmukh said to, “Works have begun on two compost schemes. The extension and concretization phase of the new construction works of Inner Ring Road and District Court also began. “Executive engineer JH Bhanuse said,” PWD has proposed two more smart compost projects at SRPF Colony, Hingna, and Police Line Takli quarters.

They will be state-of-the-art systems along the lines of one built under the Swachh Bharat Mission at Bandra. “Some residents of government quarters in Ravi Nagar are worried about the initiative. Junior engineer Vidya Lanjewar said the project would have no smell or any problem.

One is being developed for 392 quarters of old colony adjacent to Ambazari police station and the other is adjacent to the overhead water tank for 458 quarters of a new colony. Our vehicles must go home, gathering waste from the kitchen.

Leaves dropping from the trees of the colony will be gathered, too. “Those go straight into the tanks. There will be no residual dumping. I had visited the Bandra project personally and was replicating it here, “she said.

The programs can be scaled up in years to come. They will solve a major problem of the unscientific garbage disposal and will be a model of waste capital. The operator of PWD will produce and sell compost, and will also generate revenue.

Nagpur:- Exuding confidence, union road transport and MSME minister Nitin Gadkari said there could be no dearth of funds in his department, though this may not be the case for the rest of the government departments.

Addressing members of the CEOs’ group, Hyderabad, via a video call, Gadkari said he’ll set an Rs10 lakh crore target for road building and money won’t be a constraint. “Companies can be collected via the stock market, insurance companies, and banks,” Gadkari said, adding that this is limited to his own department, however.

“We are moving a cabinet note to acquire land along the highways to create smart cities, smart villages, manufacturing clusters, and smart homes. The land is purchased by way of joint ventures with private investors. We’re also open to overseas investments. I continue to tell my colleagues to come up with new ideas, “Gadkari said as he approached the CEOs.

“An investor interested in constructing a railway line from one point to the other, for example, maybe charged 25 to 30% as an advance on the railways. The remainder can be issued in annual installments with bank interest added to the sum. The same can also be said for electrification, “he said.

India’s National Highways Authorities (NHAI) will raise its target from building 30 km a day to 60-90 km. Plans exist to improve competition in the road sector by settling conflicts as early as possible. Both arbitrators were asked to conduct their hearings through video conferencing. Tax refund problems will be dealt with too, he said.

Gadkari said a proposal has been mooted for MSMEs to have an Rs1 lakh crore insurance guarantee fund. This will ensure duties of the MSMEs that are pending from government undertakings, he said.

Nagpur: Cracks already exist on the underbuilding cement road from Zingabai Takli to the village of Godhani, raising questions about the nature of the work being done. It also revealed lax oversight by the department of public works (Division-I) of the state.

Many occasions on the lackadaisical approach of the state PWD and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to monitoring and ensuring the standard of concretization road works in cement.

The stretch of the Zingabai Takli to Godhani village is part of the 5.6 km long Bokhara-Godhani-Faras road that is being extended with grants approved by city MP Nitin Gadkari from the Central Road Fund. A part of the road comes under the constituency of the Nagpur West assembly while the remaining part falls within the constituency of Hingna.

The work order for the Rs25 Crore was given to M / s Abhi Engineering in December 2016. Work is being carried out at a very slow pace and after more than three years, not even half the road is complete.

The stretch and noticed cracks on one side of the stretch between the Mahajan Complex and Govind Lawn, at many points. Chances of these fractures opening up further can not be ruled out if not attended to immediately. There is a difference between roadside panels and interlocking blocks in many areas. The blocks are of inferior quality too.

It is obvious from spot inspection that the contractor does not meet requirements such as regular water sprinkling at the site and covering up construction material, resulting in the accumulation of dust on either side of the road. Norms set by the traffic police are not being complied with either. TOI found that the contractor did not put up barricades, lights, blinkers, flasher screens, rotaries, signs for the order, red flags, etc.

Traffic wardens must also be stationed at the site round the clock but this is overlooked. Police from Mankapur and traffic police from Sadar district seem to have turned a blind eye to these violations. Former corporate Arun Dawre has found road work quality bad. Citing the reasons for the fractures, he said the road would not be allowed to set correctly. “The road is constructed from the ground at a higher level, and during heavy rains can lead to flooding of nearby houses and shops,” he said.

“We are not monitoring the quality and speed of work. Unless quality is compromised, it will be like rubbing salt to the wounds of people, “Dawre said and added that the new ones laid by the NMC, India’s National Highways Authority and even PWD do not have a smooth surface layer compared to existing old cement roads.

Despite repeated attempts, the executive engineer J Bhanuse of state PWD was unavailable for comment. It was also impossible to reach the contractor for feedback. NMC leader of the ruling party and former deputy mayor Sandip Jadhav acknowledged that he too had noticed cracks on the road and said he would raise the issue with officials from the state PWD.

The Supreme Court held that contract terms will not be definitive and binding until it is shown that flat buyers have no choice but to sign on the dotted line. Homebuyers who purchase flats or builders ‘ apartments have very little choice but to accept the developers ‘ standard sales agreement.

It is quite likely that specific provisions involving interest rate, right to terminate the agreement, the time limit for refund due to cancellation, etc. may not be equal, i.e. developers may have superior rights compared to buyers ‘ rights. Yes, many of those events already have to come to light.

There’s good news for homebuyers though. While delivering its judgment on 2 April 2019 in the case of Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure Ltd Vs Govindan Raghavan, the Supreme Court held that the terms of a contract would not be final and binding if it was shown that the buyers of the flat had no choice but to sign on the dotted line, on a contract proposed by the owner.

It further held that the inclusion of one-sided clauses into an agreement constitutes an unfair trade practice pursuant to Section 2(r) of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 since it adopts unfair methods or procedures for the builder’s selling of the flats.

Nagpur: The National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) contractor MEP Infrastructure has set a deadline for completing the Outer Ring Road by year-end. The work order for the 61-kilometer stretch was issued in April 2016 and it was to be completed in three years.

Project director NL Yeotkar said the work had been divided into two packages — 33km-long first package which covered the stretch from Jamtha to Fetri via Gondkhairi and the 28km-long second one from Fetri to Pawangaon on Bhandara Road (beyond Kapsi).

“The first package at the cost of Rs 531 crore is 52% complete while the second one at Rs 649 crore is 43.5% ready,” he added.

Yeotkar admitted that the contract period expired long ago and added that the contractor had been fined. “We could not terminate the contract as we had not handed over the entire land. Now, 100% of the land required for the project is with him. He is facing some financial problems and is holding talks with the bank. I’m unaware of the outcome,” he said.

Under this project, NHAI will construct a new 40-km cement concrete four-lane road from Gondkhairi on Amravati Road to Bhilgaon-Sirpur on the Kamptee-Jabalpur section of NH 44 via Fetri on Kalmeshwar-Katol road, Bharatwada, Panjara on Koradi-Chhindwara section of NH 47. It will also widen the 21-km stretch from Gondkhairi to Gavasi Manapur on NH 44 from the existing two-lane to four-lane and convert it to concrete road.

The ORR will also have an interchange with the under-construction Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway. NHAI will construct five railway overbridges, 20 minor bridges and 15 underpasses under the project.

The project is being developed under NHAI’s hybrid annuity system. NHAI will pay 40% of total cost to the contractor during the construction period. The remaining 60% will be paid in three installments over 15 years from the date of completion with a fixed rate of return.

When the work order was issued, the project was the first in the state and second in the country to be developed under hybrid annuity system.

NHAI will levy toll to recover the project cost. Toll will be recovered by NHAI through a private agency other than the one executing the project.