The Indian Express               27.04.2013

BMC allots Rs 1,200 crore for road repairs this year

The BMC standing committee passed a proposal Friday allotting Rs 1,200 crore for construction and repair of roads this year. While Rs 900 crore has been set aside for major roads, minor ones will be reconstructed at a cost of Rs 300 crore.

The money will be used through a new maintenance system under which the civic body will assign one engineer the upkeep of every 8-12 km stretch. The new system is to be implemented next month.

The road engineers (REs) in each ward will be responsible for maintenance and repair of roads less than 30 feet wide. Wider roads will be the responsibility of engineers in the road department office.

REs have been asked to survey and submit a list of roads to be reconstructed by May 15, after which BMC will invite tenders for repair and construction. "REs will ensure upkeep and maintenance of stretches assigned to them. They will also be able to call bids for road repairs costing up to Rs 20 lakh," said Aseem Gupta, additional municipal commissioner.

Meanwhile, BMC has decided to conduct an audit of roads under the defect liability period and ask contractors to undertake repairs before monsoon.

The standing committee also gave contracts to maintain 158 gardens for a year. The proposal was cleared despite protests by corporators and despite contractors bidding as low as 56 per cent below the base price, raising quality concerns.

BMC said it was facing staff crunch and would not be able to maintain the gardens developed in the last three years. "It was wrong to bring such a proposal for approval before the standing committee when the municipal commissioner has said proposals where bids are abysmally low will not be tolerated," said Manoj Kotak, BJP corporator and member of the standing committee.

"It will take at least two months for fresh tenders. We will give these contractors a month and also get their work audited for quality," said Gupta.