20 May 2013
Gammon India has pulled out of building a stretch of the planned East-West Metro in Salt Lake in the Indian state of West Bengal, after waiting four years for land.
The state government has been unable to relocate around 150 families who have refused to vacate the project site in Salt Lake’s Duttabad, where 13 piers were to be built along a 365-metre stretch, according to newspaper Telegraph India.
The Calcutta Metro serves the city and its satellite towns, including Salt Lake. (Credit: Biswarup Ganguly)
The large India-based construction company had signed a two-year Rs 212 crore ($40 million) contract with Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency for the Metro project, in Feb 2009 but it was extended to Feb 2014 due to delays caused by families moving into the earmarked project site.
Gammon was briefed to build a 5-km stretch and later turned down requests by the KMRC to take up the 365-m stretch.
A KMRC official said "little progress" has been made since the new state government was elected in 2011.
More here.
