News
Committee appointed to decide how to proceed with Port Access Elevated Highway
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
A committee has been appointed to decide how to proceed with the incomplete, much-delayed Asian Development Bank-funded Port Access Elevated Highway (PAEH), which is expected to connect the New Kelani Bridge to the Colombo Port and beyond, Road Development Authority (RDA) sources said.
Meanwhile, officials within the RDA have opposed moves to award the construction of two approaches – called “ramps” – to the same joint venture (JV) that built the superstructure of the roadway. The three companies are M/s China Civil Engineering Corporation, Hubei Provincial Road and Bridge Group Co Ltd, and Henan Provincial Communications Planning and Design Institute Co Ltd.
The parties won a “lump sum tender” for the project. This involves a contractor proposing a fixed, single price to complete a defined project scope, with the understanding that they will receive the total amount for their work, regardless of their actual costs. As such, there was no bill of quantities for the RDA to use as a reference.
According to ADB documents, the PAEH was designed as a four-lane elevated expressway, accessible at either end and via another ramp at the Colombo Port.
Construction started in 2019 and was scheduled to be completed at the end of 2021, opening for traffic in the first quarter of 2022. An extension was given till June this year. However, work is so overdue that RDA, which is the employer, has claimed around Rs 1.2bn in liquidated damages – or delay charges – from the CCEC-HPRB-HNRBI JV.
The completion of the Colombo Port approach is held up owing to the recent discovery of some human skeletons at the site. However, the RDA also wants to add two additional ramps connecting the PAEH to Aluthmawatha in Mattakuliya and Wimaladharma roundabout in Pettah, in order that the public can benefit more fully from the road. These were not part of the lump sum contract, but provisions were made at the inception for them to be added later.
Therefore, a variation order – a formal, written instruction to amend a construction contract, changing the original scope of work, materials, design, or project timeline – has been drawn up to award the ramps to the same JV.
Its proponents argue that the contractor is familiar with the project and mobilization time could be reduced compared with hiring a new contractor through a procurement process. However, this means that the RDA could lose the liquidated damages as the variation order will be viewed as a continuation (or extension) of the project.
The newly appointed committee will therefore examine whether it would be more advisable to award the contract for the ramps to a new party through a fresh competitive bidding process. Officials who back this option point out that the alternative – a variation order to the same JV – risks reactivating a “dead contract”.
Reviving the contract in such a manner would also potentially complicate closure and settlement efforts, and provide the JV grounds to dispute or claim reversal of the liquidated damages deductions, they warn.
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