Shortage of good contractors,skilled labour and corruption-ridden bidding processes in government bodies has taken a toll on the quality of construction in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation,admitted E Sreedharan,Managing Director,DMRC. While Phase-I of Metro construction had better contractors,including foreign contractors,Phase-II is struggling with lack of good contractors. Phase-II work is on a colossal scale. We pay nearly Rs 500 crore a month to contractors. But with so much of work in hand,we have failed to get good quality contractors, said Sreedharan. DMRC had to do away with the foreign contractors in the Phase-II to keep the project cost low,and that has led to the shortage. The quality of contractors is low now. In Phase-I firms like L&T were sub-contractors to foreign contractors but now they are our main contractor, explained Sreedharan. However,by leaving out foreign contractors in this phase we have managed to reduce costs by 5 per cent and in Phase-III we will try to engage more Indian contractors. Calling for a trained work pool which can be readily tapped,Sreedharan suggested the government should look at promoting contractors and build a platform to train personnel. The construction industry has to be nurtured. The government is their main client and decisions are not taken in time. Also,there is cut-throat competition among the contractors and in many companies,which have open tenders,the small contractors manage to get the projects by their lowest bids, he said. Contractors have been victims of corruption and to get a contract they have to pay.
