Civic body shelves plan to resurface city flyovers

The civic body’s plan to resurface the city’s flyovers with mastic asphalt has been shelved after contractors bid almost 25% higher than the cost estimated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The civic body’s plan to resurface the city’s flyovers with mastic asphalt has been shelved after contractors bid almost 25% higher than the cost estimated by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

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The project, worth around Rs. 50 crore, was aimed at resurfacing 52 bridges with mastic asphalt, a waterproof material which also prevents formation of potholes.

According to civic officials, the tender notice mentioned the width of the mastic asphalt layer up to 12mm. “The standing technical advisory committee (STAC) has recommended the width up to 25mm, so we were expecting bids that were 10-14% higher than estimated. But the tenders we received had quoted much more,” said additional municipal commissioner, Aseem Gupta.

“The tenders issued will be cancelled and we will have to issue new tenders for the work,” Gupta added.

For work in the island city, contractors have quoted 24.3% higher than the estimate. In western and eastern suburbs, the amount quoted is higher by 23.04% and 24% respectively.

A senior civic official said on the condition of anonymity that many of the contractors lack technical knowledge of the mastic asphalt technology. “Many of them do not have the necessary experience in this field. If we had gone ahead with the higher bids, the end result would have been different from what was expected.” He added that the contractors bid higher amount in cases where a fixed patch of road is to be resurfaced.