Mumbai civic body prepares for pothole repairs well into monsoons

Following criticism over shoddy pothole repairs, the civic body wants to ensure that contractors also work during the monsoon, for which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started making provisions nearly six months in advance.

Following criticism over shoddy pothole repairs, the civic body wants to ensure that contractors also work during the monsoon, for which the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started making provisions nearly six months in advance.

The civic body received no bidder for pothole repair work despite issuing tender notices twice during this monsoon. (HT File Photo)

The civic body received no bidder for pothole repair work despite issuing tender notices twice during this monsoon. As a result, it has now decided to club pre-monsoon work along with pothole repairs for next year.The civic body issued tenders worth Rs81 crore to appoint contractors early this week.

Further, the civic body will be focusing on repairing bad road patches at around 455 locations as part of pre-monsoon work. This list of bad patches was drafted by the zonal deputy municipal commissioners and ward officers on the instruction of civic chief Ajoy Mehta. Civic officials said that this will help provide the citizens with better roads, next monsoon.

The civic body had given out Rs7 crore contracts each to the seven zones in the city for the 2016 pre-monsoon work. The civic body had issued tenders, which did not receive response for pothole filling and had to be carried out eventually by the pre-monsoon contractors and ward level labourers. This was then included as unforeseen work. However, if the sources are to be believed, this took place after the road scam was unearthed leading to action against six road contractors.

In a bid to avoid a similar situation in 2017, the civic body decided to tie in the contractors for both the jobs.

A senior road department official on request of anonymity said, “This was decided so that the contractors don’t have a reason to back out. We will make sure the pothole repair is also carried out by appointed contractors instead of civic labourers.”

READ MORE

Mumbai to use digital tools to supervise engineering work, curb corruption

After road scam, Mumbai civic body to monitor work in wards