Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde approved the request put up by Tundi Tacho- a joint venture company to give time extension for the ongoing water treatment plant project last month.
The joint venture company- which involves a Bhutanese construction firm and a Nepal based company started the construction of water treatment plant for the thromde in May 2016. The work was supposed to be complete by October last year.
However, the company missed the deadline and sought extension of six months, where the new deadline was marked on April 31, 2018. But again, the company failed to complete the work on time.
So, in May this year, the company requested the thromde office to provide yet another extension. Their justification was that there were many more components to be installed in the water treatment plant, which were not mentioned in the bill of quantities- a document that provides specific measured quantities of the items of work identified by the drawings and specifications in the tender documentation.
The thromde office and other relevant agencies thoroughly studied the matter and heeded the request.
However, the Assistant Engineer of Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde, Mani Kumar Rizal clarified: “We didn’t give time extension by considering the reasons put forth by the contractor. We reviewed the matter carefully and saw the hindrances made by occasional strikes and Green Tax Services in India have delayed the work.”
In an earlier interview with BBS, the project engineer of water treatment plant said, delay in getting plant drawing approval hampered the timely completion of the project. The other reason was: discrepancy between technical specifications of works and bill of quantities.
As of now, 70 per cent of the project has been completed. A chemical house, a sludge dying bed, and electromechanical works are expected to be complete by mid November this year.
The Asian Development Bank granted about Nu 89m loan to construct the water treatment plant.
