The Indian Express             12.08.2013

PMC chief cracks whip to ensure quality of roads

Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak has asked the heads of departments and contractors to submit justification for any work being done at 15 per cent below the estimated cost. The civic chief said a lot of development work is found to be allotted at 15 to 40 per cent below the estimated cost.

"If any work is allotted for less than 15 per cent below the estimated cost, the department head should give an explanation and the contractor should also provide the details," Pathak said.

The e-tender process of PMC has increased competition among contractors, but it is expected that the rates quoted by contractors should be close to the estimate cost worked out by administration, the directive said. "Below quotation indicates that the civic administration estimate is not as per the market rate. The estimates are not prepared as per the market rate or there is improper supervision of work to decide on quality and quantity of work done while paying the bill for the work."

Thus, to ensure proper estimate of the work and also maintain the quality, there is need to review the existing system, the civic chief said. "A meeting of technical committee should be immediately called to frame guidelines within a month on steps to be followed while allotting development work to contractors."

All civic departments should set up a vigilance system to ensure quality of work, as per the specifications in the tender. Third party inspection of work should be done and if need be head of department should inspect important civic work done through contractors, it added.

The site engineer should verify the quality of material used by contractor, along with the machinery as per the demand in the project estimate, the directive said. "If any violation is found, work should be stopped and action should be initiated against the contractor."