Puducherry Smart City Ties Up With IIT Madras For Third Party Inspections

To ensure that ongoing and future projects under the Smart Cities Mission conform to high quality and safety standards, Puducherry Smart City Development Limited (PSCDL) has chosen the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to perform a third-party inspection.

According to reports, IIT Madras' Department of Civil Engineering will examine the quality and safety standards upheld by PSCDL when major projects for the Smart Cities Mission are being carried out. IIT Madras has "in principle" agreed to conduct project quality checks, and PSCDL will soon submit a proposal to the government of Puducherry in this regard.

The Union government would send a team of IIT-M professionals who have provided quality control services for numerous projects, including foreign projects. Together with the PSCDL team, they will collaborate. According to an official, the majority of the projects carried out as part of the Smart Cities Mission in Puducherry involve significant financial investments, and third-party inspection of the work is required to determine whether standards are being followed while the project is being built.

First, the expert team will examine the bulk of the recent and ongoing work that PSCDL has undertaken. D. Manikandan, Chief Executive Officer of PSCDL, said that these projects include the development of the existing bus stand at a cost of Rs 15.75 crore, the construction of a mini-stadium at a cost of Rs 12.19 crore, the building of multi-story tenements at Chinnayapuram at a cost of Rs 17.96 crore, and the reconstruction of the Goubert market at a cost of Rs 36 crore.

"The goal is to make sure a system is in place to check the level of construction quality. The majority of the projects that PSCDL implements include a lot of foot traffic, thus structural safety cannot be compromised, he said. The IIT-Madras specialist team will guarantee that the construction process is precise and error-free. In order to ensure that standards and quality criteria are being followed, he continued, "They will conduct periodic inspections on the status of the projects and suggest measures, as necessary."

PSCDL has also asked other line departments to assign third-party quality assurance for major work being implemented under the Smart Cities Mission. The Public Works Department (PWD) will soon be floating a tender to select the agency to conduct third-party inspections of major work including disabled-friendly pedestrian paths at a cost of Rs 120 crore and the iconic cycle track, costing Rs 9.73 crore.