Pre-monsoon repairs cancelled, motorists to suffer

Call it irony, but two weeks after the monsoon arrived in Mumbai, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to abandon the pre-monsoon road repairs work for Eastern and Western Express Highways. The reason — Lukewarm response by the contractors.

The Public Works Department (PWD) handed over both highways in April this year to MMRDA for repairs. As the monsoon was nearing, the authority decided to award contracts for desilting nullahs along the highways, resurfacing of few stretches on service roads that were in bad shape as well as potholes that may crop up during the monsoon.

However, no contractor showed any interest in the Rs 13 crore bids for the work that should have ideally been completed before the monsoon. Bids were invited only in the last week of April and the bidders had one week to submit their proposals. However, despite four extensions, MMRDA failed to get any response. As a result, your ride on EEH and WEH will remain bumpy.

Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director, MMRDA confirmed that the bidding process for pre-monsoon works have been abandoned. "Whatever repair works is required will be carried out smoothly after the monsoons," said Kawathkar.

Contractors have been complaining of lack of construction material as operations at stone quarries have been shut. The Thane and Navi Mumbai stone quarries have been shut for the past three months. This was a precautionary measure by the quarry owners, after a petition was filed at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) claiming that quarrying was being carried out beyond permissible limits.

"We have successfully carried out the desilting work and also have appointed contractors for filling potholes during monsoon. However, for resurfacing work which is also part of pre-monsoon repair work, we have failed to get any bidders," said an MMRDA official.

Post the litigation at the NGT, the Thane Collector has stopped taking royalty from at least 70 quarries in Thane and Navi Mumbai. This has also hit several pre-monsoon road repair works that had to be undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The Public Works Department (PWD) in April 2017 handed over the WEH and EEH to MMRDA after the state government de-notified both the highways to city roads following a Supreme Court ruling banning sale of alcohol within 500 meters of state and national highways. While this means MMRDA has to maintain the highways, it does not have to maintain the flyovers on the highways that are under agencies such as the PWD and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).