LAHORE: Though the Supreme Court has set a deadline to see the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train chugging by July 2019, continuous delay in the release of payments to contractors may delay the completion of the mass transit project.

The top court in recent hearings on the project fixed deadlines of Oct 30, 2018, and July 31, 2019, for the completion of civil and electrical mechanical works. The court also directed the Punjab government to accomplish the project by the deadlines by all means.

“Though none of the contractors engaged in the project received a single penny from the government after March 31, they continued working on the project with their own resources and loans,” a contractor’s representative told Dawn on Sunday.

“We respect court orders and will complete the project on time. If the government continues to delay our payments for, project completion may delay further.”

For the last couple of months, release of payments to contractors has been a major issue. Earlier, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) sought administrative approval from the Planning and Development Department for the release of funds under the revised PC-I of the project. However, the department said there was no need to seek such an approval. The authority stuck to its stance, calling the approval by the department necessary.

“A sense of fear prevails among senior government officials due to inquiries by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and other law-enforcement agencies into various projects for the last couple of months. That is why the payment issue has yet to be resolved,” the representative maintained.

He said there were two stages of civil work – first, that is ongoing and set to be completed by the end of this month in the light of the court orders, and the second, which will begin once Chinese (CR-Norinco joint venture) complete electrical, mechanical etc works.

According to a recent progress report, the track work is done at 11.42km, of 13.77 km, on Package-I, whereas 13.27 km, of 13.42 km, of the track has been laid at Package-2. Up to 73 escalators, of 77, have been installed at stations of Package-I, and 76, out of 80, escalators have been installed at stations of Package-2, reads the report. Similarly, 46, out of 48, elevators have been installed at stations of Package-I, 51, of 52, elevators at stations of Package-2 and the entire seven elevators have been installed at depot and stabling yard. Platform screen doors have been installed at station No 4 (Mahmood Booti) and station No 10 (railway station).

“At Package-2, platform screen doors are being installed at station Nos 17 to 21,” reads the report, and adds over 91 per cent on average civil work has been completed. Similarly, 84.92 per cent of the electrical and mechanical works have been completed so far.

LDA Chief Engineer Mazhar Hussain said the project would be functional by July next.

“The LDA will receive administrative approval for the funds in 10 to 15 days and soon it will be able to clear the payments of all contractors,” he said. He said the payments to the contractors engaged in the Shaukat Khanum Flyover project would also be released soon after the administrative approval.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2018