No bidders for BMP’s 30 road repair packages

No bidders for BMP’s 30 road repair packages
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) road repair works have hit a dead-end. There are no takers for 30 of the 103 packages tendered last month.

Apparently, contractors are wary of the BMP works after the High Court set up an expert committee to evaluate the quality of road works.

Though the BMP is prepared to retender the works, it is expected to take more time. Banagloreans cannot expect better roads even then.

A section of BMP engineers admit that the system and not an individual is responsible for the bad roads. Some of them even say that the design of works taken up by the civic body itself seems to be faulty. “The estimated cost is frozen before finalising the length of roads to be repaired and politicians want to cover as many roads as possible. As a result, the engineers are forced to go for thinner asphalting over a longer stretch of the roads,” he said.

This compromise at the initial stage brings temporary popularity to the politicians as the people see cosmetic improvement. But the roads give in to the first monsoon. The councillors blame officials and demand repairs and the story repeats. The civic body continues to spend money every year repairing roads that are destroyed every year.

Simple considerations like appropriate gradation of the aggregates, thickness of asphalt and camber will increase the life of the roads by 200 percent but these are not observed thanks to the BMP rules. Aggregate gradation is difficult to maintain because the smaller size gravel is in short supply. Laying a thinner coat of asphalt on this reduces the life of the roads.

Provision of camber requires correction of existing undulations on the road which is not accounted for by the BMP and the contractors do not want to spend more on it.