South Bombay road concretisation to finally begin on October 1

Additional commissioner Abhijit Bangar said that both tenders had been approved: "The work order will be finalised this week and work will begin on October 1.”

MUMBAI: Starting October 1, the much-delayed concretisation work of South Mumbai roads will be taken up by the BMC. The project went through a lot of hiccups, including the termination of a contract by the civic body this January.

Thane, India - June 04, 2023: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay which was appointed as a consultant and third-party auditor by Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) to supervise road revamp work has found errors in road cutting work, quality of construction work and lagging procedure of carrying out the work among other technical issues, in Thane, India, on Sunday, June 04, 2023. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Phase 1 of the concretisation of 212 roads, which was earlier awarded to Roadways Solution Infra India Ltd (RSIIL), has now been given to NCC Ltd. Phase 2 will be undertaken by GHV. Both the contracts, to be taken up simultaneously, have been awarded at 4% above the estimate of ₹12,500 crore to ₹13,000 crore, costing the civic body an additional ₹52 crore.

Additional municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar said that both tenders had been approved. “The work order will be finalised this week and work will begin on October 1,” he said. Bangar added that both contractors would be paid 4% above the estimated cost. “NCC first quoted around 9% more,” he said. “We negotiated and agreed to 4%.”

When asked why such concessions were given to South Mumbai road contractors, Bangar said, “Working on roads in South Mumbai poses many challenges. The work cannot be done during the day due to the traffic and VIP restrictions and the higher land surface temperatures. So it has to be done during the night. On account of this, tenders for the island city are higher.”

The man who blew the whistle on the BMC awarding contracts above the estimated cost was former BJP corporator Makarand Narwekar, who first wrote to civic chief Bhushan Gagrani about NCC charging 9% above the estimated cost. “The BMC’s negotiations failed, and the contractor agreed to 4% above estimate, saving around ₹70 crore of public money,” he said. Narwekar’s demands came after it was learnt that the BMC had decided to award the contract, which was approximately ₹1,362 crore.

The former corporator said that the BMC also needed to ensure that the work proceeded according to schedule. “If the contractor fails to meet the completion deadline, immediate action should be taken to blacklist him,” he said. “Additionally, a third-party audit should be carried out on a monthly basis once the work begins to ensure that the quality of the roads is good. Citizens have been enduring significant difficulties due to the delayed construction of cement-concrete roads in South Mumbai.”

Bangar said the work order for the two phases would be finalised by this week and work would begin on October 1. “The deadline is 24 months excluding the monsoon. Both phases will happen simultaneously,” he added.

Mumbai has a road network spanning 2,050 km, of which approximately 1,000 km has been concretised. Following a directive from chief minister Eknath Shinde last year, the BMC embarked on a project to concretise all roads in order to eliminate potholes. Last year, it issued tenders worth ₹6,080 crore for 397 km of road concretisation and awarded contracts to five firms. However, it cancelled a ₹1,600-crore contract with Roadway Solutions India Infrastructure Ltd (RSIIL) for 97 km of road concretisation in the island city.

In February, the civic body floated a tender for the concretisation of the remaining 400 km of roads for Phase II this year. It has faced criticism for the slow progress of the concretisation work.