BMC to fix tender process

The heavy clouds dotting the city could not be more concentrated than those above the BMC. The heavy clouds dotting the city could not be more concentrated than those above the Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation (BMC). Currently under fire from all sides for the shoddy state of the city’s roads and the increasing pothole problems, it has finally decided to completely overhaul

the tender procedure for the construction of roads and repair of potholes. At present, in the official tendering procedure, the lowest bidder gets the contract. “As per the new policy, work

will given to bids that are 5 to 10% more than the original work cost,” said a senior civic official. Most of the tenders have been allotted to bidders offering almost 15 to 20% lesser than

the original cost of the work. For instance, if the work base cost is Rs100 crore, then to grab the tender contractors will have to quote only Rs800. “Earlier, we were able to work within

limited funds but that led to poor-quality road construction where contractors used substandard material,” said the official. In addition, blacklisted companies will not be allowed to

participate in the tendering procedure. “The entire process will be transparent with a focus on quality. We will conduct inquiries on whether the participant is an immediate relative of the

blacklisted firm, and will look into the past experience and quality of work of each bidder,” he added. Nitin Shah, the BMC road contractor welcomed the move adding that it would lead to

good roads. “If there is enough fund allocation, then we [contractors] will be able to construct and repair roads properly. It is difficult to adjust the road construction budget in the

limited amount,” he said. While promising the new policy would be in place soon, Rahul Shewale, BMC standing committee chairman has assured that the next time they will personally request

major road construction firms to participate in tendering procedure. “We never thought that the potholes would create so much controversy. We do not want to face any public wrath in future.

We are committed to good and quality of road and potholes repairing. New policy will be ready soon and subsequently, state government approval will be taken,” said Shewale. The BMC have come

up with a long term plan for improving the roads in the city. A plan which once in place, they claim, will lead to a pothole-free city. “We have asked 34 utilities including Reliance,

Bharat Gas, MTNL and BEST to submit the copy of their expansion plan in city. According to that, the road construction will happen. Once the road is constructed, we will not give permission

to any utilities to dig up the road as that causes bad patches and potholes,” said a civic official.