According to a recent newspaper report, the estimated cost of construction of the new Porvorim elevated highway is to go up by a whopping Rs 70 crore, due to some new findings in the geological investigations. Accordingly, piles will now have to be driven to a depth of 40 metres, instead of the earlier 25 metres , to encounter hard rock. While these are some of the problems usually met with in construction work of such a nature, it it is difficult to understand why the tendered amount of the successful bidder was 25% lesser than others. The next expected increase on the cards will be the rising cost of raw materials like steel, cement and aggregates. And sometimes it also becomes necessary to change the contractor , which further increases the cost and delays the completion time.
