BMC tells contractors; in a first, civic body to award contracts worth Rs 1,500 crore based on design-build-transfer basis
A civic official said the designs will, however, be checked by BMC's technical consultants, and only then will the tenders be approved. File pic
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon award road works worth approximately Rs 1,500 crore on design, build and transfer (DBT) basis. This will be the first time after discussions with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, that the BMC will give out road works based on DBT, where the maintenance of the roads will be the responsibility of the contractors for 10 years."
Road works for about 150 km are likely to be drafted after instructions from municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi over DBT basis. BMC officials will start giving out the new road works where the civic body will just govern the work and closely monitor it just like it is doing in the case of construction of bridges, currently.
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In this system, the maintenance of the roads will also depend on the contractors for 10 years instead of the current three and five years of defect liability period. Representation pic
In this system, the maintenance of the roads will also depend on the contractors for 10 years instead of the current 3 and 5 years of defect liability period. Recently, the bridges repair and reconstruction work was awarded on the same basis, where the responsibility of designing, construction and maintenance lies with the contractors and according to officials, this will mean faster completion of work.
However, concerns of increase in the project cost are still being dealt with, and the consultants who have been suggesting various changes to BMC's roads department personnel, have been instructed to draft a model document where they will put in all kinds of do's and don'ts to attract contractors. Earlier this month when Thackeray had visited the BMC, he was also explained about various plans and techniques from holding contractors' payment and releasing it in a 60:40 or 80:20 ratio, to giving out contracts on DBT method for better roads in the city.
Ratio of payments
Recently, the BMC gave out road works where the cost of about 200 works increased because the contractors were asked to maintain the roads for 10 years, and the payment to be released was done on 60:40 basis. Explaining this process, BMC officials said that first 60% of the payment is released on completion of work, and 40% will be given only in the 10 years during which the roads are maintained. Civic sources revealed that either 60:40 or 80:20 will be included in the upcoming road work tenders of approximately R1,500 crore and the payments will be released throughout the 10 years of maintenance.
'To speed up work'
A civic official said, "It is a method that we are following to ensure road works are done at the earliest, because in such cases contractors take the technical liberty and design roads where the work can be done faster. These work designs will, however, be checked by our technical consultants who will give their feedback and approval, and only then will the tenders be approved. Even in case of bridges, a peer review of the contracts was done."
He added, "The instructions were given by the civic chief last week, when the consultants were asked to draft a model document along with various conditions and give it to the roads department, so that new tenders for road works of about 150 km can be drafted and floated to be opened to bidders." Despite repeated attempts to contact him, Sanjay Darade, chief engineer of the roads department, remained unavailable for comment.
Rs 1,500 cr
Worth of the road works to be awarded
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