Potholes scar city's new roads

In a survey of the city's roads, conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), it was found that on roads that are under the defect liability period (DLP) alone, there are potholes in 616 locations.

If you needed proof that contractors were cutting corners and building poor-quality roads, here it is.

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In a survey of the city's roads, conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), it was found that on roads that are under the defect liability period (DLP) alone, there are potholes in 616 locations.

Thus, the total number of locations in the city with potholes is naturally, higher.

Although 457 of these potholes had been attended to once they were spotted, the civic body has fined the 26 contractors a total of Rs7.95 lakh.

DLP is the duration for which the responsibility of a newly constructed road lies with the contractor. If there is any damage to the road in this period, the liability to carry out repair work is with the contractor, who needs to do so at his own cost. For asphalt roads, the DLP is three years, whereas for cement concrete roads, it is five years.

Incidentally, these findings come on a day that the civic body has short listed contractors who have bid 15-25% below the estimated costs for road works worth Rs550 crore.

Potholes have constantly been cropping up on roads under the liability period. For instance, till July 25, a total of 345 pothole locations had been attended to, while another 159 were yet to be repaired.

Since all these roads are recently constructed-between three to five years ago- these figures raise a question mark on the quality of work done by the contractors. "Ideally, roads under the DLP should not develop potholes. The agreement conditions are such that the contractor has to pay for the repair of these roads from his own pocket," a senior civic official said, requesting anonymity.

Some of the worst hit DLP roads in the city were found in the eastern suburbs, including the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link road and the Shiv
Shrusthi Marg in Kurla.