From intermittent ban on construction due to rising pollution to record rain and cold conditions deterring work, many experts and engineers associated with infrastructure projects in the city claim that various environmental and climatic factors have resulted in a shorter window for construction work in the Capital.
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Experts have suggested a complete revamp in planning, including prioritising certain components of projects during summer months, incorporation of delays due to climatic factors in the tender, and use of latest technologies, to adapt to the changes.
Road surfacing work in the Capital, including for the tunnel project at Pragati Maidan, have been affected in January as the cold is not conducive for the use of bituminous construction material which is the key ingredient laying coaltar-asphalt roads. Prior to this, during November-December last year, construction bans were in place for days on end as the air deteriorated in the Capital. The operation of stone crushers and hot mix plants too were stopped during this period, effectively washing out construction work during the winter months. Brief but intense spells of rain also resulted in inundation of project sites and leading to minor delays in the previous months.
Sarvagya Srivastava, former chief of Delhi PWD, confirmed that disruptions due to environmental factors has increased: “The bans impact movement of material and manpower and the construction sector has been most severely affected in last two years. There has been a big setback in the last couple of years and the whole sector is in turmoil.”
Srivastava said that the order of construction work cannot be easily changed to prioritise certain works but said use of new technologies will be needed in the future. “We will have to look for new materials and technologies, adopt more mechanised construction and use pre-fabricated parts,” he added.
On January 27, HT reported that cold conditions were acting has the last hurdle in completion of Pragati maidan tunnel project and six underpasses in the region.
A senior official PWD said that most hot mix plants are now located outside the Delhi boundaries. “The asphalt hot mixture is hearted up to 300°C, and now one needs to factor in its cooling down during transportation. Quick cooling leads to early settling of layers and that can lead to damage. The night temperature in last week has been 7-8°C. The surfacing has to be put on hold till weather conditions improve,” said the official.
“Construction companies used to set up smaller hot mix plants near project sites but amid increasing environmental concerns in the last few years, these were moved away,” the official added.
An engineer from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said that the road laying cannot be carried out during peak winter but exemptions in day-time operations are being sought in some cases. “Besides fund shortage, this is certainly a problem faced by all agencies,” official added.
Earlier, the construction ban was in force from November 16 to December 20 last year, owing to the poor air quality in the Capital.
The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) had banned construction and demolition (C&D) activities in Delhi and the NCR due to high pollution on November 16 last year, and the Supreme Court reaffirmed the ban on November 24.
The Supreme Court-approved graded response action plan (GRAP) for pollution mandates that construction activities need to be stopped when the air quality index (AQI) passes a certain level.
Dr S Velmurugan, chief scientist, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), said that road owning agencies need to change their strategies to finish projects on time. “The road owning agencies like PWD and civic bodies should make their priorities clear. If they want to stick to hot-mix technology, then that work should be prioritised so as to carry it out during the summer months. They can also upgrade to use of cold mix technology which has been demonstrated by CRRI on many national and state highways. The cost of this approach may be a bit higher but one has to understand that delays also cause cost escalations,” he said.
Dr Velmurugan added that the site management practices have to be improved to minimise dust pollution to a level that such projects are exempt from the construction ban.
Some of the key projects where climatic factors have been repeatedly cited for delays are Pragati Maidan integrated transit corridor projects, Ashram underpass and flyover extension project, Benito-Juarez underpass, half underpasses near Wazirabad on Outer Ring Road and Kishanganj underpass, among others.
Delhi also witnessed an intense monsoon that continued well into late October, with the city recording 1,512.4mm of rainfall till December 29 — the second highest ever on record. The short but intense spells of rainfall in the monsoon season led to flooding of several project sites and under construction underpasses.
Netra Sharma, who heads All SDMC contractors association, said, “On top of pollution-related bans, the erratic monsoon also led to delays in several projects. No road laying work or major project involving digging work could be carried out during rainy season. There are frequent disruptions in projects after July, till the end of winter. The construction window is getting increasingly shorter and government should consider targeted and time bound bans instead of blanket bans on construction,” he added.
Pankaj Bajaj, the president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (NCR chapter), said that the effective period for construction in Delhi NCR is only about 8-9 months in a year. “The loss of 3 to 4 months annually is partly addressable. We can allow construction to continue with strict dust control measures during the affected period. Also, it is not right to put a blanket ban on construction every time pollution increases. Many construction activities, like say plumbing work or installing lifts, are pollution free. They can be allowed to go on. Even for activities like mixing concrete can be done off site, or they can use prefabricated materials. In such cases, the construction site is nothing but an assembly zone while actual manufacturing happens somewhere else.I hope the authorities desist from issuing blanket bans and actually allow all the non polluting activities.”
Prof Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, said the project planning at tender stage should include climatic factors. “Project planning should take into consideration construction bans, climatic conditions, and prioritisation of certain aspects of projects in summer months. Under current conditions, everyone takes it for granted that a project will be completed in certain number of months without factoring in these delays or plans to avoid these period,” he said.
Prof Ram added that technology used in colder European countries should be considered.
Retaining workers a challenge
Officials claim that retention of workers amid intermittent construction bans is also a challenge. “We try to keep a section of labourers engaged by deploying them in dust control activities but contractors cannot be expected to keep paying workers during longer ban periods. We need a permanent mechanism to deal with this,” said a senior official from South MCD.
