BMC sets aside Rs 5800 crore for concrete, pothole-free roads

MUMBAI: Following a directive from the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde that all roads in the state’s capital city should be cement concretised by 2024, to do away with the problem of potholes, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on August 2, issued notice inviting bids from five companies for the work. The bid invitation is for Rs 5800 crore works for 400 km of roads, which is more than twice the amount BMC spends on an average on road repairs, annually.

BMC officials said that floating of the tenders was a step towards making the city of Mumbai pothole-free. The civic body, for the first time, has restricted joint ventures for road works and is expecting to receive response from companies with experience in road construction at the state and national level. In contrary to earlier trends, wherein multiple smaller tenders used to be floated by the BMC for road construction, this time, only five tenders have been invited for construction of 400 kilometers of road.

All these road works are to be completed within 24 months of the work order. After completion of the works, the company’s liability period will be for 10 years and the BMC will retain 20 per cent of the road works payment until that period to ensure that the roads are properly maintained and repaired during the fault-liability period. The roads are to be designed and constructed keeping in mind the needs of differently abled.