The BMC is spending a whopping amount to rope in prominent contractors for construction of roads. Experts are circumspect, advising the civic body to monitor work closely
The BMC is spending a whopping amount to rope in prominent contractors for construction of roads. Experts are circumspect, advising the civic body to monitor work closely
In a bid to construct more durable roads in the city, the BMC has decided to relinquish its old habit of signing on local contractors for the work, opting for contracts with major infrastructure companies instead. 
According to the Standing Technical Advisory Committee's recommendation, the BMC will now invite tenders from the more well-known builders who will be in charge of building, repairing and maintaining the city roads
Experts, however, have cautioned against investing too much faith in these contractors, warning that they often tend to sublet the work to smaller contractors, leading to a compromise on quality.
The Standing Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) had made this recommendation to the civic body as far back as 2004.
Accordingly, the BMC will now invite tenders from the more well-known builders like Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Construction Company, Simplex Infrastruc-ture, J Kumar, Unity Infra Ltd and others.
The firms will be in charge of building, repairing and maintaining the city roads.
Needless to say, the cost of construction will shoot up correspondingly. Whereas a single contract is signed for Rs 15-20 crore at present, the new tenders will be worth anything between Rs 50 and Rs 120 crore.
A BMC official said, "These high profile companies will do a better job of building quality roads for the city." He further added, "Till date, tenders were invited separately for every ward.
Under the new system, Mumbai has been divided between into different regions: the city, the western suburbs and the eastern suburbs. The roads have also been categorised into concrete and asphalt ones," he said.
Additional Municipal Comm-issioner Aseem Gupta said, "We have allotted a huge sum for the more prominent firms, which will work on roads wider than 30 feet.
The existing contractors can work on the smaller roads." But a BMC official from the roads department failed to evince equal enthusiasm, saying, "The bigger companies do not carry out the complete work on their own.
They eventually sublet the contracts to existing local small- scale contractors. This defeats the whole purpose of roping in the big firms. Ultimately, the condition of the roads will remain the same, in spite of BMC's hefty expenditures."
It is common knowledge that the BMC has always received flak for the shoddy work carried out by local contractors every year, leaving the roads crying out for help, in unison with the passengers who endure bumpy rides.
This new move is the civic body's attempt to redeem itself in the eyes of the city's long-suffering commuters.
Expertspeak
Jitendra Gupta, road expert and member of the Road Transport Committee said, "The BMC doesn't have many major roads to look after. If they are signing expensive contracts with major companies, they should keep tabs on the work done."
N V Merani, chairman of the STAC said, "We had suggested the BMC to rope in the more well-known firms a long time back, and it is heartening to hear that the body is finally thinking of implementing our advice.
But the officials will have to keenly monitor the operations undertaken by these contractors to ensure that they do not sublet the contracts. Monitoring is the primary advice we had mentioned in the recommenda- tions."
Coughing it up
The budget allotted for development and construction of roads this year has been doubled from Rs 500 crore to Rs 1,000 crore. The planned package with the high profile contractors is worth nearly Rs 549 crore. These contracts will be signed for roads wider than 30 feet. An additional amount of Rs 260 crore has been awarded for development of narrower roads, for which small-scale local sontractors will be roped in.
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