BMC to float tenders worth Rs. 2,100 cr to resurface roads.

In the coming months, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will sanction contracts worth over Rs 2,100 crore to resurface and reconstruct various major and minor roads across the city this fiscal.

This is a substantially higher allocation for such work as compared to previous years when a total budget of about Rs. 1,000-1,400 crore was allocated for repair works. Moreover, the budget has been raised despite the civic body's consistent failure to spend more than 50 per cent of its budget estimates every fiscal.

According to the civic roads department, the contracts for asphalting and concretising various stretches are under way and are likely to be awarded to contractors before year-end. Noticeably, unlike previous years, the BMC has dedicated major allocations for roads in the suburbs instead of the island city with a higher provision for asphalting roads rather than concretisation.

'The budgeted amount includes expenditure to complete pending works from the previous fiscal as well. This may have led the outlay to seem inflated. While new work may take some time to be commissioned as the state Assembly elections are round the corner, repair and resurfacing work that were put on hold during monsoon will continue after October 1,' said R A Pawar, chief engineer of the roads department.


THE INDIAN EXPRESS