The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Assembly complex work stopped

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Saturday, Jan 03, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Assembly complex work stopped

A. Srivathsan

CHENNAI: Construction of the new Legislative Assembly complex at the Omandurar Government Estate has stopped for about a week now.

The pile foundation work cannot continue because hard rocks had surfaced and made pile driving difficult. The engineers never expected rock surfaces to emerge at the site, says a government source.

The pile system was chosen based on their earlier soil test in the campus.

But this has now turned inadequate to drill through rocks hence the work has been stopped.

“The rocks found at site go up to 4m to 6m and we now need to shift to a boring type of pile system. In addition we may have to use special mixtures such as bentoite to prevent water ingress and provide a stable shaft,” explained an officer associated with the project.

Not a major problem

“This is not a major problem and the lost time can be easily made up. We have conducted trials and work will resume soon,” he added.

The foundation stone for the new Legislative Assembly complex and Secretariat was laid in June 2008.

The work on the first block which includes the Legislative Assembly hall, office of the Chief Minister and other core departments commenced in October 2008.

The work is expected to be completed in 18 months.

The contract for the entire project costing Rs.425 crore has been entrusted to East Coast Constructions and Industries Limited.

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