Mumbai:
How much does it cost to mend city roads? Information under the RTI has divulged that maintenance and repair work for a kilometre stretch amounts to Rs50 lakh. With a total 1900km roads under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) jurisdiction, it should cost the agency Rs950 crore to maintain the roads. However, in the last three years, the BMC sanctioned a whopping Rs3,000 crore for road repairing. Of which, 60% has already been spent. Besides, additional money has been allotted for upgradation and construction of new roads. And to top it all, embarrassingly enough, the roads are in dire need of maintenance.
"The civic body is wasting the tax-payers money. Roads are repaired every six months but after monsoon, there are potholes everywhere," said Raja Bunch, who had filed the RTI. "If the BMC spends the money cautiously, a concrete road can last for 40 years, while the lifespan of an asphalt road is 10 years," he added.
Despite coughing cash, the civic body has managed to concretise only 600km stretch of roads. Gerson Da Cunha, co-founder of AGNI, blamed corruption in the BMC. "The liability of maintaining roads is on the contractor. Only a set of companies, which bid for tenders in different disguise, are repeatedly given the contract. Even after a shoddy job, the contractors get away after paying a paltry fine," said Da Cunha.
The BMC had appointed a third party consultant to audit the condition of roads, but this exercise yielded meagre result. "The BMC's supervisory, from ward level to the top level, has failed. The foundation is not laid properly, no attention is paid to the mixture prepared to fix the road," said Nandkumar Salvi, a member of road monitoring committee. The road monitoring committee was formed after June 2005 deluge in the city. The report had submitted its report in the high court in November 2007. Meanwhile, chief engineer (roads) R Kulkarni said that newer methods to maintain roads were being introduced. "It is difficult to quantify cost of road repairs. Aspects like road width and the existing condition are to be taken into account," he said.
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"The civic body is wasting the tax-payers money. Roads are repaired every six months but after monsoon, there are potholes everywhere," said Raja Bunch, who had filed the RTI. "If the BMC spends the money cautiously, a concrete road can last for 40 years, while the lifespan of an asphalt road is 10 years," he added.
Despite coughing cash, the civic body has managed to concretise only 600km stretch of roads. Gerson Da Cunha, co-founder of AGNI, blamed corruption in the BMC. "The liability of maintaining roads is on the contractor. Only a set of companies, which bid for tenders in different disguise, are repeatedly given the contract. Even after a shoddy job, the contractors get away after paying a paltry fine," said Da Cunha.
The BMC had appointed a third party consultant to audit the condition of roads, but this exercise yielded meagre result. "The BMC's supervisory, from ward level to the top level, has failed. The foundation is not laid properly, no attention is paid to the mixture prepared to fix the road," said Nandkumar Salvi, a member of road monitoring committee. The road monitoring committee was formed after June 2005 deluge in the city. The report had submitted its report in the high court in November 2007. Meanwhile, chief engineer (roads) R Kulkarni said that newer methods to maintain roads were being introduced. "It is difficult to quantify cost of road repairs. Aspects like road width and the existing condition are to be taken into account," he said.
Copyright restricted. Under license from www.3dsyndication.com
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