Altering its road map for good roads to incorporate the arguments
that were brought forth by the Bombay high court in its hearing on the
suo motu PIL on Tuesday, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)
will consider two major points while preparing its plan of action.

First, payment to contractors will be made in installments, and
second third-party auditor will be included in the process of
formulation of tender conditions as well as scrutiny of bids.

Additional municipal commissioner, SVR Srinivas, said, “Two of the
six issues that were pointed out in the court’s notice were discussed in
detail. We will look at the way forward by including the arguments that
developed in the court and will focus on information technology-enabled
road monitoring.”

However, questions of hurdles faced at the implementation stage and a
check on the quality of technical work carried out by contractors were
still left unanswered.

On Tuesday, the high court questioned the BMC’s payment system in
which only 10% of the total amount to be paid to the contractors is
withheld till the end of the three-year or five-year defect liability
period.

This results in less accountability on the part of the contractor.

“The court’s suggestion to devise an installment system of payment
and including third-party auditor at the stage of tender formulation
will be considered while formulating the next plan of action,” said
Srinivas.

The BMC also plans to seriously implement IT-enabled services for
monitoring road work and ensure coordinated placement of utilities.

Activists, on the other hand, maintained that no system would hold good if it was not followed in its entirety.

“If work specifications are followed by contractors then a major part
of the problem would be tackled,” said Sudhir Badami, activist and
member of the 2006 HC-appointed road monitoring committee.