BMC to re-tender Rs 1,200 cr road maintenance and repair project

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) decided on Wednesday to scrap the tenders and re-invite bids following a controversy over contractors quoting up to 40% less than the estimated cost of Rs 1,200 crore for road maintenance and repairs contracts. In addition, ahead of the BMC elections in February 2022, the municipality will float tenders for another Rs 650 crore in road works and Rs 350 crore in road repair work in Mhada layouts, providing an additional windfall for corporators. The civic body has also decided to refloat bids worth a total of 2,200 crore by adding a few more roads. According to the BMC, the conditions will be more stringent this time to ensure that the road's quality is maintained. In a letter dated September 13, additional municipal commissioner P Velrasu asked the deputy municipal commissioner of infrastructure to explain how quality will be maintained when contractors quote less than 30% of the estimated cost. Concerns about the quality were raised when contractors offered to build roads for such a low price. The road department was then asked to respond to the additional municipal commissioner, who, after consulting with municipal commissioner Iqbal Chahal, decided to re-float the bids. One of the conditions of the revised tender document is that up to 20% of payments be held back and distributed only between the sixth and 10th year after the road is repaired. A BMC official said that in such a case, they propose to pay 4% per year, divided over four years. After testing the roughness of the road, the 4% payment will be made every year after the sixth year. According to BMC officials, quality monitoring auditors will be assigned to each zone, an increase from the current three such auditors for the entire city. Image SourceAlso read: Mumbai Mayor asks BMC to repair all potholes within 10 days Also read: Bombay HC orders NHAI to repair highway joining Amravati-Nagpur