60-40 payment rule delays road repairs

Motorists in the city are unlikely to get any respite from uneven roads, as more than 400 post-monsoon repair works are yet to commence.

Motorists in the city are unlikely to get any respite from uneven roads, as more than 400 post-monsoon repair works are yet to commence.

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The tenders for a major part of the repair works, around ₹600 crore, are yet to be awarded to contractors, as the civic body had not mentioned its newly-introduced 60-40 payment plan in earlier tenders floated for these works.

“The repair works will be delayed, but we are trying our best to allot the works at the earliest,” a senior civic official said.

As per the new payment system, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had to pay 60% of the payment to the contractors after the completion of the road construction, while the remaining 40% was to be paid in phases during the defect liability period (DLP). During this period, contractors are expected to maintain roads constructed by them.

Earlier, BMC would pay contractors after the road work was completed. However, after the administration noticed that the contractors did not repair potholes or bad patches of road during DLP, it introduced the 60-40 payment plan.

Post-monsoon repair works, worth ₹800 crore, were to begin in October, for which BMC had floated tenders. While works worth ₹600 crore have to be undertaken on concrete roads, the remaining repair work will be on asphalt roads.

However, more than two months ago, BMC realised that the 60-40 plan was not mentioned in the existing road repair works tenders. It then cancelled the existing tenders and issued fresh ones with the 60-40 policy.

Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said, “BMC’s negligence has led to a delay in the repair works. The municipal commissioner is directly responsible for this and should be held liable. By now, 20-30% of the repair work should have been completed.”

Generally, bids finalised for road repair works every year come down to -12% of the estimated cost, an official said. However, the contractors in the new tenders have bid 9-36% above BMC’s estimated cost. “We have not cancelled any overbid tenders and are negotiating with the contractors to reduce the quoted rates,” the civic official said.

James John, coordinator of Action for Good Governance and Networking in India, said, “This is an administration lapse and will have a bigger impact on the roads of the city.”