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.”