India's ambitious Rs 23,562-crore project to build six French Scorpene submarines is all set to be further delayed beyond its revised delivery schedule beginning 2015. The six Scorpene submarines being constructed at the Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL), under licence from French firm DCNS,has put up a proposal for further extension of the delivery date. "While the proposal of MDL is being considered by the MoD,this will be on the table when the French defence minister visits the country next month," sources in the MoD told FE. Apart from yards failure to renew its technology assistance contract with the Spanish company Navantia,is among several other several reasons which have contributed to the delay, including delay in augmentation of infrastructure,procurement of material by MDL and absorption of new processes and procedures of completely new technology. "However,MDL has taken up the construction of six submarines concurrently,placed orders for complete material package required for construction of submarines,augmented its manpower and infrastructure while outsourcing certain tasks in order to mitigate the delay," he added. The complex procurement procedures too contributed to the delay the procurement of a large quantity of equipment from many different overseas suppliers is not an easy task and some of these foreign small and medium enterprises are not used to dealing directly with shipyards like MDL who have complex procurement procedures. The Scorpene project was approved in September 2005 at a cost of Rs 18,798 crore,but was revised to Rs 23,562 crore in February 2010,following time overruns in the project. The delivery schedule too had been revised from the original 2012 to 2015. Scorpene project's Spanish consultants from Navantia have returned to their home country last month following the expiry of their consultancy term. The collaboration agreement on the Scorpene project between DCNS and MDL provided for an Advising and Overseas Team (AOT) during the Scorpene submarines construction period of 87 months. India's conventional diesel-electric powered submarines strength is precariously low at 14 vessels at present - 10 of Russian Kilo class and four of German HDW class - from the 17 it had till the middle of the last decade that included the last three of the eight Foxtrot submarines that were retired in due course. India has a 30-year plan for inducting 24 new submarines that was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in 1999 during the NDA government. However,not a single new vessel inducted in the one-and-half-decade since.
