It said the project was unnecessarily split into two packages and awarded to the same contractor which led to "undue gains" of Rs 53 crore to the contractor. "The contractor, DSC Ltd, did not comply with quality control measures such as conducting lateral load test of piles, which were extremely important keeping in view that the entire stretch was an elevated corridor. The PWD officials also did not insist on the same," the report had added. The elevated road had been specially constructed for athletes for going from the Games Village to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The Shunglu Committee had pointed out that the project consultant was Tandon Consultants, which had designed pier number 76 of DMRC near Zamrudpur that collapsed resulting in fatalities. They were blacklisted by DMRC but the PWD clarified that this incident occurred after the contract had been awarded. The report said it was not explained whether any rechecking of the design had been done.
The Shunglu report said there was undue delay in starting the work on the project which resulted in cost escalation. "The road alignment was approved as late as April 9, 2008 though work had been initiated on June 6, 2006. It is evident from the records of the GoM that the chief minister was in favour of construction of a tunnel link starting near Millennium Park on Ring Road to Lodhi Road. This project was opposed tooth and nail by Archaeological Survey of India and ultimately had to be abandoned. But not before a good two years were lost in the process," it said. It had added that Sheila Dikshit stated on record that the elevated road over Barapullah did not have much legacy value. Delhi government knew about the need for a road link from JLN Stadium to the Games Village since 2003 but a lot of time was wasted in deciding what to do. "The process could have been started in 2004 and an alignment decided much earlier. In that case it would have been possible to appoint a consultant, frame estimates, call tenders and award work on the contract, following a normal time-frame, in 2005. The work, including connecting links to Lala Lajpat Rai Marg, could have been easily completed in 2008," the report adds. It emphasized that the cost of the work, including connecting links, would in such a scenario have been about Rs 331 crore as against the present cost of Rs 440 crore. This would have resulted in a saving of Rs 109 crore. Even if work had been started in 2007, there could have been a saving of Rs 74 crore," the committee added.
The CM had in a preliminary rebuttal dismissed the charge of "undue gains' to contractors, saying Shunglu's methodology (cost index method) was faulty and "applicable only to buildings and not at all relevant for infrastructural projects like flyovers etc." The charge was based on "speculative assumptions" she had said.
