Ghazipur Slaughter House Project hanging in fire
The Ghazipur Slaughter House Project is hanging fire as the MCD and the contractor entrusted with the work fight a legal battle over the total cost of the project, reports Satya Prakash.
The Ghazipur Slaughter House Project is hanging fire as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the contractor entrusted with the work fight a legal battle over the total cost of the project.
After a Supreme Court-appointed firm fixed the cost at about Rs 114 crore for abattoir with a capacity of 4,500 goat/sheep and 500 buffalo a day, the contractor says it is not possible to complete the work at this cost.
The counsel for the contractor, M/s Food Processing Equipment Company Pvt Ltd,
told a Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhan that the the prices of cement and other raw material have gone up since it undertook the additional work. The company now wants at least Rs 150 crore to complete the work. However, MCD counsel Sanjiv Sen told the court that the civic body was not in a position to offer more that Rs 114 crore.
The counsel also complained that the company was not given proper hearing by the IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, which worked out the final cost on the orders of the court.
Interestingly, the court had made it clear to the contractor and the MCD that the final cost worked out by IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited would be final and binding on them.
The IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited is supposed to have calculated the final cost of the project taking into consideration the escalation in prices of raw material, additional machinery and new taxes that have come into effect.
Blaming the MCD for the delay, the court asked both the parties to sit together and sort out the difference in the project cost by Friday, failing which it would pass necessary orders.
As the MCD and the contractor kept finding fault with each other, the June 30, 2006 deadline fixed by the court for the completion of the project expired.
The initial cost of the project was estimated to be Rs 65 crore with a capacity of 2,500 animals a day but it was revised after the capacity was sought to be doubled.
While the contractor is demanding over Rs 150 crore for completion of the work, the MCD says the cost would not exceed Rs 106 crore. The Contractor claimed it would lose an amount of Rs 43.51 crore if it accepted the rates offered by the MCD.