MoRTH regional office clarifies

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Aug 1:: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Guwahati regional office has clarified that the work order for construction of Sawombung bridge has not yet been cancelled.
A statement issued by MoRTH, Regional Officer, Guwahati M Riten Kumar Singh clarified that the contract for construction of Sawombung bridge was awarded to M/S Supreme Infrastructure Pvt Ltd at a cost of Rs 1271.92 lakh. The scheduled date for completion as per the contract agreement was December 12, 2016.
However, it was found that the entire work was given to M/S LS Construction by the main contractor  M/S Supreme Infrastructure India Ltd on sub-contract as evident in a sub-contract agreement signed on May 11, 2015.
The contractor’s act of handing over the whole contract work to a sub-contractor violated the contract agreement and this was pointed out by MoRTH Regional Office to PWD(NH), Manipur. 
It was intimated by the PWD Additional Chief Engineer-III that the sub-contract agreement drawn on behalf of M/S LS Construction and main contractor M/S Supreme Infrastructure India Ltd has been cancelled, conveyed the MoRTH Guwahati regional office.
In the meantime, IIT Guwahati submitted a report on December 10, 2018 pointing out that the bridge’s pile cap and pier did not meet the standard quality and the State PWD was asked to take up necessary action. 
IIT Guwahati submitted another report on April 29, 2019 saying that the concrete cubes supplied by the contractor and reportedly used in constructing the bridge met the standard quality, said the MoRTH regional office.
It then clarified that the certification regarding the concrete meeting the strength requirement has been certified by IIT Guwahati. Revalidation is a process of the Government of India for financial re-phasing of works whose financial phasing for a sanctioned work has expired.
As the original phasing for Sawombung bridge has lapsed and the work is yet to be completed, revalidation of the same work in 2019-20 has been recommended by MoRTH Regional Office, Guwahati to MoRTH headquarters and this proposal is under consideration of the ministry, it said.
Total payment made till date (work portion) is Rs 4.78 crore and the last payment was done in the month of May 2016, it added.