Construction status of AIIMS-like institute in Bhubaneswar
Following is from a report in TOI.
A barren stretch of land interspersed with a few rickety structures, construction equipment and promontories of red earth are all that greets a visitor at the proposed site for AIIMS here. While in Bhopal, Patna, Rishikesh and Jodhpur, the construction work of the hospital is nearing completion, Bhubaneswar is still struggling with bricks and mortar, making its ability to meet the construction deadline of mid-2012 an unattainable target.
At Sijua village on the outskirts of the city, where the speciality health centre is coming up, only foundation work was visible. The residential buildings are only 30 per cent complete. Even engineers felt the deadline for the 978-bed hospital, under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, with 15 super speciality and 18 speciality wards, would be difficult to meet.
The civil work for the residential buildings, including type-2, type-3 quarters and bungalows for the AIIMS director, which started in the last week of May 2010, is supposed to be completed by August 2011 (in 15 months).
Similarly, work for the medical college and hospital buildings, which started in the middle of September 2010, is supposed to be completed by September 2012 (24 months from the commencement of work). "The deadline will be hard to meet," said an engineer. …
But deputy secretary, Union ministry of health, Sube Singh, is confident the project will be commissioned in time in the second half of 2012. "The initial hurdles have been removed. The work is going on at a good pace," he said.
A fortnightly progress review of the Rs 820.49-crore project is being done by the health ministry.
The progress in the past two months has been satisfactory, another senior health department official said. Procurement of medical equipment and allied work are being undertaken simultaneously to avoid delay in commissioning of the hospital, he said.
I went to construction site. Indeed there has not been a whole lot of progress. But I could see construction going on in a break-neck speed. The person in charge seemed very hard working and it seemed like things were under control. My impression was that they could do enough construction to start classes in 2012.
January 21st, 2011