Monorail project: CAG raps MMRDA for irregularities.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has come down heavily on the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), pointing out several irregularities in the Rs. 2,700-crore Mumbai monorail, like non-transparency in certain aspects, violations of contract conditions, and issues with the quality of construction.

The report says that the monorail contractor, a consortium of Larsen & Toubro and Scomi Engineering, were as of November 2014, which was when the audit was concluded, yet to comply with 21 defects that were pointed out in the construction quality between May 2010 and January 2014. A total of 426 such non-conformance reports were raised before the contractor for defects from May 2010 to January 2014.

The defects that the consultant had pointed out include major cracks on the bottom portion of platform slabs at various stations, cracks and leakages at at the station track-level slabs, leakages in the wall of the operation centre, and large bug holes on several guideway beams, on which the monorail runs.

'Delay in ensuring timely remedial action by the contractor may aggravate the defects and deficiencies in the non-conformance report,' the CAG report said.

The CAG has indicated non-transparency in fixing the final project cost and the appointment of consultant. The consultant, Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES), which the report says was engaged without inviting global tenders, had given an initial estimate of Rs 1,539 crore for the 20-km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail, while the contract was ultimately awarded for Rs 2,716 crore. The MMRDA justified this, saying there was no benchmark for costs as this was the country’s first monorail, as per the report.

THE INDIAN EXPRESS