Highway cleared of foreign ‘bumps’

Evidence of the doggedness with which construction along the GQ is being monitored in New Delhi comes from notes maintained by Khanduri. The 1,453 km Delhi-Kolkata stretch is being funded by the World Bank, and Khanduri admits that microscopic monitoring from Washington delayed signing of contracts. ‘Problems of language, unfamiliarity with Indian conditions and the absence of senior company officials slowed down the pace of work, he adds. ‘‘While Malaysian and Korean companies have shown good progress, the Russians and Chinese are lagging behind,’’ Khanduri said. ‘‘They did not have enough supervisory staff, could not mobilise equipment and that is why I told them we may even have to resort to termination. Now, they have brought a revised plan and we hope they can push through.’’

In Khaga and Varanasi, an interaction with Russian engineers and NHAI officials makes it apparent that Centrodorstroy was desperately trying to buy time. Alex Kovalev, the project manager at Khaga, said, ‘‘We did face some initial problems on this project but they are over now. We will be moving a lot of machinery on the road soon.’’ Alexander Dambalaev, the Russian project manager posted at Handia explained, ‘‘There was some communication gap with Indian officials soon after we came but that stage is over now. We will try complete the project in time.’’

The problems faced by Centrodorstroy seem to be accentuated by the fact that that they picked on Mukund Steel, a company which has no previous experience in road construction. Among the other Indian contractors they are ‘‘competing’’ with on other GQ packages are reputed firms like Somdutt Builders, IRCON, Oriental Structural Engineering and Progressive Engineering.

Mukund’s DGM,Y S Subramaniyam, said that their Russian counterparts had now flown in more managerial staff and interpreters, and that initially they also faced some hurdles in the import of equipment from Russia. ‘‘There is a good understanding between the Russians and our company now. We are working on a crash programme and are even hoping to get the bonus for finishing the road before the Government’s deadline of substantial completion by December 2003.’’ And NHAI’s Member (Technical) Nirmaljit Singh explained the peculiar problems being faced by the Chinese firm: ‘‘For the Chinese, working in India is a new experience. They first faced a serious language problem and had to bring in interpreters. Because of the communication gap, they also thought people in India were out to fleece them.’’