L&T GEOSTRUCTURE PROJECTS PROGRESS, TAKING THE PANDEMIC IN THEIR
COLLECTIVE STRIDE
When the rest of the world was celebrating Valentine’s Day, the L&T GeoStructure teams at the Chennai Metro Phase 1 Extension UAA-09 project had another reason to celebrate as the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, inaugurated the underground station and the Cut & Cover section both at Tondiarpet in Chennai on 14 February 2021,in the presence of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Shri Edappadi K Palaniswami. “It was a race against time,” grins a satisfied Praveen Kumar Shetty, one of the Project Leads for this particularly challenging assignment. “But when we are given a date for inauguration involving the PM, there is no alternative but to make it happen!” The other Project Lead, V. Balamanikandan nods in agreement and adds with a sense of achievement, “we completed and handed over the project within 20 months and it was a real joy to see the first successful run of the Metro that Sunday afternoon!”
The scope of work comprised the 200 m underground metro station with four major entry structures, three vent shafts and an ancillary building. The 650-metre-long Cut & Cover section involved a 400-metre roof slab, a base slab of 650 metres, a 900-metre side and mid wall. Significantly, this section of the Metro connects North Chennai to the rest of the city while the underground section connects to the elevated section via a ramp.
“Completing the project was a race against time, but when we are given a date for inauguration involving the PM, there is no alternative but to make it happen!”
Praveen Kumar Shetty
Project Lead, Chennai Metro Phase 1
Overcoming issues of soil & space
It is obvious that both project teams stretched muscle and sinew to achieve their stiff targets, having to overcome two major hurdles in the process. “We had to construct in a very challenging soil stratum and in an extremely congested and narrow urban space,” shares Planning Engineer, Soham Roy with a grimace, “and yet meet our high safety and quality standards.” While the task would have been challenging even in normal times, these were the times of the pandemic with the team having to face huge restrictions and stringently adhere to the severe COVID-19 SOPs and protocols to ensure that people remained safe, and at the same time, progress was rapid and sustained.
“We had to construct in a very challenging soil stratum and in an extremely congested and narrow urban space and yet meet our high safety and quality standards.”
Soham Roy
Planning Engineer, Chennai Metro Phase 1
Fully prepared and working seamlessly, one team completed the balance 25,000 cu.m. of excavation and 40,000 cu.m. of backfilling for the Cut & Cover portion of the Ramp. “We successfully poured 15000 cu.m. concrete in 8 months despite the pandemic,” says a proud Praveen Shetty, highlighting the completion of the 600 m long and 6 m high partition wall that separates the up and down lines of the tunnel. For his Planning Engineer, Aditya Gaikwad, an already complex task was made even more complex, having to deal with other contractors who were laying the rails simultaneously on both the lines. “We planned the whole process meticulously, our coordination with all the other agencies was spot on and we completed the task within just two-and-a-half months.” Another notable achievement by the station team was to complete the vent shaft building involving a 14 m tall RCC structure that was completed within two months meeting high quality and safety standards.
“We planned the whole process meticulously, our coordination with all the other agencies was spot on and we completed the task within just two-and-a-half months.”
Aditya Gaikwad
Planning Engineer, Chennai Metro Phase 1
View of the cut and cover tunnel at Tondiarpet, CMRL
Both Praveen Shetty & Balamanikandan agree that the project has been “an example of showcasing the merits of project coordination, planning and execution while tackling all the unseen variables and finding appropriate solutions.”
Cut and cover at Tondiarpet, CMRL
Desperately seeking more hands, skilled and otherwise
The now-famous migrant labour migration dealt telling blows to all sites across the organization, leaving it to each project to evolve their own strategies to identify, induct and quickly train new labour. “We had to literally reconstruct our workforce and we mobilized about 600 workmen from across the country,” shares Balamanikandan. “The Workmen Connect & WISA apps helped us to coordinate the movement of workmen and to induct new workmen at site. The team did a fabulous job of keeping a steady balance despite Chennai remaining a COVID-19 hotspot.” All the health care and protection SOPs issued by the government and the internal EHS protocols were practised at site, with the team not only following the local regulations, but remaining in constant contact with the client and partners to achieve productivity and complete the project milestones on time.
“We had to literally reconstruct our workforce and we mobilized about 600 workmen from across the country. The Workmen Connect & WISA apps helped us to coordinate for the movement of workmen and to induct new workmen at site.”
V. Balamanikandan
Project Lead, Chennai Metro Phase 1
Elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh, the project team constructing a composite medium irrigation dam across the river Runj in Panna district was faced with a similar situation. “As soon as the lockdown was lifted, we swung into action to bring workmen back to site and successfully mobilized about 150 of them,” informs Project Director, Sarasindu Datta, with a sense of purpose. The WISA app went a long way to efficiently enrol new workmen.
“Post the monsoon, we have achieved yet another feat, achieving 80,000 cu.m. of excavation and 70,000 cu.m. of backfilling for the Cut off Trench.”
Sarasindu Datta
Project Director, Design and Construction Runj Dam
Stone pitching works at Runj dam, M.P.
At the Navigational Lock project at Farakka, the unique ‘Workmen Connect’ App came in handy for the team to track, monitor movement and remobilize workmen from across the country. “We mobilized 217 workmen to attain the required strength of 272,” says a satisfied Rajaneesh Kumar Rai, Project Director, for whom at his distant site, completion of critical milestones was so dependent on remobilizing workmen with the required skillsets and orientation. His pain point, however, was that the fresh labour being inducted required continuous and rigorous training to equip them sufficiently to start delivering. Planning Manager, Sachin Thakkar, points out that, “the WISA app was used to screen new workmen online and regularise staff attendance.”
Navigational lock at Farakka, WB
Overcoming the hurdles of isolation and the monsoons
If the Chennai Metro teams had to face the perils of congestion and lack of space, Sarasindu and his team at Runj had to contend with the issue of isolation that became even more severe due to the pandemic. Not ones to be deterred, they carried on, finding every possible opportunity in these times of crisis, though even as they restarted operations, a particularly severe monsoon badly hampered their efforts. With a focused approach and proper planning, the team took up concreting works and achieved about 52,000 cu.m. of concrete in a seven-month period.
“Through Procube, we were able to quickly escalate constraints and bottlenecks and work out mitigation measures. In fact, progress speeded up thanks to quick decision-making”
Vivek Iyer
Planning Manager, Design and Construction Runj Dam
“Post the monsoon, we have achieved yet another feat,” smiles Sarasindu, “achieving 80,000 cu.m. of excavation and 70,000 cu.m. of backfilling for the Cut off Trench.”
With their customer satisfied with their effort, the team clocked significant billing in seven months since the unlock. To maintain this pace of delivery, it was imperative to monitor progress daily and meticulously which is where Procube was heaven-sent as Planning Manager, Vivek Iyer shares. “Through Procube, we were able to quickly escalate constraints and bottlenecks and work out mitigation measures. In fact, progress speeded up thanks to quick decision-making.” He mentions the constant attention of Chief Executive, Mr. S Kanappan and his office to ensure progress.
Successfully mobilizing an expert contractor to commence the challenging task of fabricating the gate was a huge achievement for the site and SCM team – otherwise it could have been a huge bottleneck. Regular follow-ups with the Forest department bore fruit, as the team was able to obtain various tree-cutting approvals and other clearances within just one-and-a-half months. Currently the activities are geared up and the site team is determined to complete the project within the planned schedule.
“While it was important to address progress, the project execution team had to focus on quality too for which we implemented the QIR (Quality Incident Reporting) app to track process across all levels, to ensure that no major NCR was raised by the client.”
Sachin Thakkar
Planning Manager, New Navigational Lock at Farakka
Unlocking potential in difficult times
There is a disarming honesty to Rajaneesh as he admits that there have been some setbacks in performance due to the pandemic. “We have, however, taken various measures to adhere to the budgeted invoice,” he reassures. Here too, daily monitoring of activities through Procube facilitated quick decision-making, follow-ups, and progress. “While it was important to address progress, the project execution team had to focus on quality too,” reminds Sachin Thakkar, “for which we implemented the QIR (Quality Incident Reporting) app to track process across all levels, to ensure that no major NCR was raised by the client.” The EHS team used the Safety App to monitor and promptly alert relevant personnel about incident reports. Despite worldwide restrictions, the SCM team interacted with vendors from across the world to ensure timely supply of bought-out items to site, from various parts of the country and even from Europe.
“As a team, we have been concentrating on project progress making appreciable ground, thanks to our digital solutions, and of course, the contribution and dedication of our people during these extremely uncertain and unprecedented times.”
Rajaneesh Kumar Rai
Project Director, New Navigational Lock at Farakka
“As a team, we have been concentrating on project progress making appreciable ground, thanks to our digital solutions, and of course, the contribution and dedication of our people during these extremely uncertain and unprecedented times,” sums up Rajaneesh, reflecting the sentiment shared not only at L&T GeoStructure, but across L&T Construction.