Mumbai: Highly-placed sources in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) revealed that the authority might give an ultimatum to Scomi Engineering, the contractor for the Mumbai monorail, if the firm failed to meet the demand for rakes to start phase two (Wadala to Jacob Circle) by next year. Currently, the contractor was running phase one (Chembur-Wadala) of the monorail.
A senior MMRDA official said, “Scomi has been told about the ultimatum. If they do not perform, they will be asked to leave. An official letter will be sent soon.”
The MMRDA had procured a total 10 rakes for the monorail, of which four have been operational in phase one. The remaining six rakes need repairs and certain parts have to be procured by Scomi to start phase two operations. However till now, the contractor has allegedly not carried out repairs.
“We had written to the MMRDA this month to make an advance payment against the bank guarantee held by the authority. The details of the vendor from which the parts will be purchased were also given. There has been no response yet,” said a source from Scomi.
Sources also claimed that the MMRDA wanted to put pressure on Scomi in order to get the repair work carried out free of cost. According to reports, the Malaysian firm had been delaying the salaries of its workers in Malaysia for over six months.
Meanwhile, MMRDA had geared up to take over the monorail after the recent formation of the Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Ltd. (MMOCL). “We have our backup plan ready; we might take up operations of the entire monorail next year,” said the official.
