A bend in BMP road project

A bend in BMP road project

Nearly 300 kms of roads are asphalted so far, against the target of 1,000 kms. The BMP had plans to complete the work by next February, said official sources.
Deccan Herald

Barely a month after the re-launching of 1,000 kms of road asphalting work, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BMP) ambitious project has hit a roadblock.

Almost all contractors have abruptly stopped work, demanding escalation in the project cost. With this, the Rs 110-crore project (barring civil works such as construction of drains) has come to a grinding halt in most BMP wards.

The contractors have refused to restart the work, unless the BMP hikes the project cost by 10 per cent.

Besides, the contractors have demanded that the BMP incorporate two of their demands — restoring of dug up roads and potholes before asphalting and providing camber connections (the formation of slopes for the easy flow of rain water) in the tender. It was in February 2004 that the BMP launched the project under the name ‘Complete Black Topping of Roads’.

But the BMP was forced to suspend the work following heavy rains in May. The project was re-launched by the newly-elected Mayor R Narayanaswamy recently.

Nearly 300 kms of roads are asphalted so far, against the target of 1,000 kms.

The BMP had plans to complete the work by next February, official sources said.

The trouble began when the Lokayukta, during its recent inspection, found a poor quality of work in some areas and warned of stringent action against the erring contractors. “Subsequently, the contractors demanded escalation in the project cost, besides incorporating two new conditions in the tender,” BMP official sources told Deccan Herald.

They said the bitumen cost has shot up to Rs 18,000 per metric tonne as against Rs 11,000 per mt when the contract was awarded in November 2003.

Moreover, BMP has been insisting that contractors should restore dug up roads, besides giving gradient to roads for easy flow of rain water. “But these two conditions are not in the tender. The contractors are thus incurring 30 per cent loss,” the sources added.

In the present tender, there is no mention of restoring the damaged roads or provision for the camber.

The BMP is faced with the problem of dug up roads mainly in the new wards of Lingarajpuram, Kacharakanahalli, Hebbal, Chandra Layout and others, where Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has dug up roads and footpaths to lay water supply and underground drainage lines, they said. In fact, the BMP Contractors Association’s members met the Lokayukta justice N Venkatachala on Friday and apprised him of the constraints in implementing the project.

The BMP may have to shell out an estimated Rs 10 to 11 crore to fulfil the contractors’ demands. This means, the total project would go up to nearly Rs 120 crore in case of a hike, BMP officials said.

However BMP Commissioner K Jothiramalingam denied that the project has been stopped and said the work is going on smoothly. “They (contractors) have placed their demand for cost escalation, which will be dealt with separately,” he added.

CONTRACTORS’ DEMAND (in Dec 2004)

10 pc hike in project cost
Include pothole-filling in the tender
Restore dug-up roads before asphalting
Ask BWSSB to complete its work soon

TENDER CONDITIONS (in Nov 2003)

3-years maintainence of asphalted roads
Reinforce selected roads in each ward
Pavement configuration
Construction and desilting of shoulder drains