When India’s first monorail was inaugurated in February 2014, it was supposed to change the travel experience of commuters in the city. However, after missing several deadlines for commissioning of the 10.24-km-long phase-2 monorail from Wadala to Jacob Circle, the financial instability of Malaysian contractor Scomi engineering has made the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), decide to give a helping to Scomi by paying directly to the vendors of Scomi in order to give a push towards the completion of the phase-2.
The MMRDA is yet to receive switches (equipment used for diverting rolling stock from one track-line to another) from Scomi and it has failed to deliver it on time and the reason is the financial instability of Scomi. MMRDA had ordered for two switches out of which it has received one and is waiting for the other one. “The switching equipment is very crucial for conducting trial runs after which only it can get certificate,” said a senior MMRDA official. MMRDA has blamed Scomi for the delay and it has also submitted its claim in terms of financial losses.
According to a senior MMRDA official, “In a recently held review meeting among Larsen & Toubro, Scomi and MMRDA officials it was decided that MMRDA will provide a helping hand to Scomi by it directly paying to the vendors Scomi deals with to give a push for Scomi to deliver what it has promised.”
The project in 2008 and was awarded to L&T and Scomi Engineering of Malaysia for carrying out the work. Since then MMRDA has had many ups and downs with respect to the project, such as the rolling stock creating technical issues, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) coming down heavily on MMRDA citing irregularities in carrying out the work of MMRDA, etc.
