Poor state of Mumbai roads to stay, for now

The roads in the city are likely to remain in a poor state for next few months as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has asked contractors of the road works contracts (RWCs) to carry out the work on a ‘trial basis’ based on the rates quoted by them.

Officials from the road works department said the bids invited for RWCs were as low as between 30% and 50% for all 24 administrative wards. “We have asked the contractors to carry out the work of Rs10 lakh within 15 days on a trial basis. The work order will be issued by Thursday,” a senior civic official from the department said, adding that a vigilance department or third party would later check their quality of work. “As the bids are much lower than the expected rate, we are unsure about the quality of work.”

The trial work may take at least three months to finish and tenders will be issued after this only if the work is found satisfactory.

Moreover, the bids for civil works contracts (CWCs) were also abnormally low, as much as 40-60%. The contractors were asked to work on a trial basis, but they refused to do so. However, the civic body is yet to take a final call on this despite giving them two extensions. Additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said the BMC would decide on this in two days.

Another official hinted that RWC contractors might go the CWC route and refuse to work on a trial basis.

After the chief accountant highlighted the nexus between officials and contractors in an internal note, the BMC introduced a new category of RWCs to break this and carry out ward-level repairs and work on minor roads.