New clause in contracts: Punjab PWD makes it a must for firms to maintain roads for five years

Punjab govt has allocated ₹1,000 crore for carpeting of 96 plan roads, which include state highways and district roads excluding link roads, this year and contracts of these are being awarded after adding a new clause

Chandigarh : The Punjab public works department (PWD) has decided to award new road projects to contractor firms with a compulsory clause of repairing it for five years.

The Punjab public works department (PWD) has decided to award new road projects to contractor firms with a compulsory clause of repairing it for five years.

Earlier, the contractor firm was free after laying the road and in case of damage, the PWD used to allot repair works to another contractor by inviting tenders.

The Bhagwant Maan-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has already allocated ₹1,000 crore for carpeting of 96 plan roads, which include state highways and district roads excluding link roads, this year and contracts of these are being awarded after adding a new clause.

Hindustan Times has seen some tenders in which the contracts have been awarded to contractors with a clause of mandatory upkeep of roads for the next five years.

The tender requirements say the contractor has to repair the road for first year free of cost as a “defect liability” whereas the cost of next four years will be included in the original contact.

The clause of compulsory repair was there in link roads being developed under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) or the state highways being developed under build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis or by other means of public-private partnerships.

“We have decided to carpet roads by studying the traffic volume. Earlier, carpeting was done with a plain clause of laying bitumen mix of certain strength. Under fresh terms and conditions, the contractor will have to strengthen the crust design as well as per our requirements,” a senior PWD functionary said.

PWD officials say that adding compulsory repair clause will save department’s money and also improve the quality of roads.

“When a private contractor has to upkeep the road stretch for next five years, the firm would make better roads to save expenditure. The rate of repair work is mere 1.5% of the total project cost per year,” a senior department official said.