Mumbai: After cancelling road concreting tenders worth Rs 5,800 crore, the BMC has invited fresh tenders worth Rs 6,079.52 crore, which is an increased budget of nearly Rs 200 crore. For new tenders, the civic body will use ‘porous concrete’ (which absorbs or lets rain water percolate, releasing it in drainage) in key locations to avoid flooding during monsoon.
Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) P Velrasu said, “Porous concrete will absorb rainwater within two minutes. We will use it on side straps, footpaths and above drainage lines so that water doesn’t collect on roads when it rains heavily.”
The BMC has collectively invited three tenders, which were issued for the city, eastern suburbs and the western suburbs. The earlier ones were scrapped because of poor response. These road concreting projects will be carried out in some areas in the western suburbs like Santacruz East and West, Andheri East and West, Malad, Goregaon, Kandivali and Borivali.
Every year, especially during monsoon, the BMC is targeted over pothole-riddled roads, which have become the key contention considering the city will soon witness civic polls. Roads are also part of the BMC’s beautification plan that is underway on a war footing. Under the road concreting tenders, around 400km of road network will be improved.
In fresh tenders, 71km of road network is in the island city for which nearly Rs1233 crore would be spent; Rs846 crore would be spent on 70km road network in the eastern suburbs and Rs4,000 crore would be spent on concreting 275km roads in the western suburbs.
The BMC has already concreted 984.84km roads. Officials said that it has been seen that in comparison to asphalted roads, fewer potholes appear on concrete roads, for which even maintenance is cheaper.
In 2022-23, the BMC has undertaken concreting projects for 236.58km roads with a provision of Rs2,200 crore. Further, it has proposed works for an additional 400km.
For better response from bidders, the BMC has relaxed the Defect Liability Period (DLP) and will now have 20% bank guarantee for 10 years; it will release 2% bank guarantee to the contractor every year (bank guarantee helps maintain roads).
