What's the deal with the delays?
Archana, Gauri and Gautam look at the reasons behind construction delays
Constructions used to happen much faster at IIT Bombay. The Hostels 12 and 13 were completed in a record 2 years. Now, the new constructions seem to take forever to be completed. We interviewed Prof. R.K Malik, Dean Planning, to find out why. Here are the essential details of what he had to say.
Major reasons for delays in construction projects around the institute:
1. Before Hostels 12 and 13 were built, we were free from the bureaucratic procedures of the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the approval of any new construction. A Public Interest Litigation filed against the hostels for being too close to the lake changed everything. Since then, for any new construction in the institute, we now require BMC clearance along with clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, aviation clearance for tall buildings, and a host of other approvals from the naval colony firing range and the Tree Authority of India, depending on the size and location of the building.
2. The recent boom in the infrastructure industry means that L&T (who constructed hostels 12 and 13) and other high end players are no longer interested in projects as ‘small’ as ours. We have to make do with smaller builders whose efficiency is considerably lesser; and this hurts construction speed.
3. The sudden increase in traffic around Powai makes transportation of materials like concrete and sand to IIT very time-consuming.
4. Major infrastructural projects such as the Mumbai Metro are given preference over smaller projects when it comes to raw materials for construction, especially sand. When we have to go to places as far as Nasik for sand, it is no wonder we are not the fastest in town.Amidst all these challenges, the constructions in insti chug along and here's how they are doing:
All these are definitely sufficient reasons for the delays. However, if more students come in and we have nowhere to accommodate them due to further delays, it would certainly be most unfortunate.
- In hostels 12 and 13, new areas for constructing fresh rooms have been identified after juggling around parking and utility space between the upper and lower stilts. Things are on track for around 70-80 new rooms before the start of the next academic year.
- A hostel for project staff has been planned, which will be up in two years. It is expected that only half the hostel will be occupied by the project staff and around 300 double rooms may be available for the burgeoning student population.
- Hostel 10: The new building will be up before the start of the next academic year. The foundation is laid, and the construction is now expected to progress faster. The old H10 building will remain as it is - no decision on its fate has been taken yet.
- Computer Centre: The new CC was to be exactly superimposed on the old CC area. However, due to some miscommunication with the architect, the final plan spilled out of the original area triggering a series of clearance troubles. It will take at least another 2 years before the buildings are up.
- Convention centre: The building, complete with furnishing, Wi-Fi and other amenities, should be ready by August '09.
- The Sports complex: The practical completion date is October 2009.
- Bioschool and the high capacity lecture hall: The tendering process was completed recently. It will take some time before the construction begins and another 1.5 – 2 years for its completion. Until then, one has to be content with a model of the proposed construction on the 2nd floor of the MB.
(Gauri Joshi and Gautam Salhotra are fourth year students of the Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Departments, and Archana Raja is a third year student of the Chemistry Department. They can be contacted at gaurijoshi@iitb.ac.in, gautam.salhotra@iitb.ac.in and archana.raja@iitb.ac.in)