The Indian Express             02.09.2013

BMC to study profile, traffic density of roads

Earlier, only major roads were concretised. The BMC will now
study traffic intensity and the potential and significance associated
with each road, even if it is a minor road, before undertaking its
construction.

“We will consider various criteria before deciding to construct
concretised and asphalt roads in future. Typically, major roads (over 30
ft wide) are concretised, but in some cases, a minor road may be
important from the usage point of view,” said S V R Srinivas, additional
municipal commissioner.

Of the total road length of 1,812.39 km in the city, over 500 km
has been concretised. The civic administration is planning to take up
the remaining roads in a phased manner. The city has almost 1,100 km of
minor roads and over 712 km of major roads.

The BMC is also planning to test various technologies for road
construction, depending on the usage of each road, said civic officials.

The BMC, which is drafting the final road map for the next five
years, will also appoint design consultants and all roads that are over
60 ft wide will be concretised.

With smaller contractors not maintaining roads properly, the BMC
is planning to introduce the maintenance clause in the tender.
Currently, road contracts are allotted with a defect liability clause,
which includes pothole-related repairs. To ensure better quality of
roads, the contractors will now need to maintain these roads, including
resurfacing and re-laying of 15-20 per cent of the roads every year.

Another modification in the tender norms to ensure participation
of big firms is doubling of contract size, said officials. The size of
each road contract is likely to be raised to Rs 300 crore from Rs 165
crore.

The BMC is also planning a single window clearance for approval of road works.