Evaluating Extension of Time Claims in Infrastructure Projects

Abstract

Consequent to opening up of the economy of India since 1990, it has lead to the rapid growth of business, tourism and other commercial activates. The focus of the government has shifted on building a strong infrastructure with the result large projects of high magnitude are being operated pertaining to the roads, airports, bridges, railway tracks etc. This has resulted in very high stakes involved of the client and the builder thereby the tender documents have become very specific and voluminous thereby leading to possibly of creeping in of discrepancies and errors. In order to safeguard from any financial injury the client include certain one sided conditions viz that the owner retains the right of deciding the intention of the contract in case of any ambiguity in the contract documents, fully aware of the fact that it may not sustain before the legal forums. The owners must accept that unilateral decision regarding the intention of the contract, can be only done by mutual consent or by an impartial body.Disputes are common occurrences in construction contracts, due to various reasons i.e. project execution periods in infrastructure contracts are relatively large, involvement of local bodies, clearances from various regulatory agencies etc. This is one of the main reason leading to disagreements and disputes, which lead to extra costs, project delays and sometimes suspension of work leading to risk and cost of the contracts. It is therefore, very important that a system is evolved to resolve disputes amicably during the execution stage itself. It is also a fact that in spite of best practices the involvement of legal action and courts may become unavoidable but it should be taken as the last resort option This paper offers a perspective into how extension of time claims are to be documented, submitted and analysed to achieve speedy settlement of the disputes with minimum involvement of legal procedures.