BMP road project turning into wasteful expenditure

BMP road project turning into wasteful expenditure

The Hindu

Potholes on Magadi Road even before work is completed




BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BMP) Karnataka Municipal Reforms Project (KMRP) appears to be a let down like the earlier Municipal Bond Road Scheme.

When the civic body initiated the Rs. 125-crore Municipal Bond Scheme in 1998 to upgrade roads, citizens were promised that the roads asphalted under this scheme would not need repairs for seven years.

While the project cost escalated by Rs. 140 crore, the condition of roads deteriorated in just three years.

Now, the BMP promises the citizens that roads upgraded under KMRP would last 10 years. But even as the work on the seven roads under the first phase is on, substandard work has started showing.

The stretch of Magadi Road from the Toll Gate junction (Mysore deviation Road) to Sankadakatte, which was developed under this project two months ago, has subsidence in many places and deep craters at several places. Just a few metres away from the busy Jaimuni Rao Circle in Agrahara Dasarahalli, the road has five potholes. The surface is uneven at many places and the road has not been asphalted up to the pavement at several spots.

This project is lagging behind schedule.

When it was launched in November last year, the BMP had set itself June as the deadline to complete it. After extending the deadline thrice, BMP is now confident that it can complete the project before the end of January. But not even 30 per cent of the work has been completed.

Under the first phase, work on seven roads (29 km) had been taken up at a cost of Rs. 31.50 crore. The BMP is spending almost Rs. 1 crore on every kilometre. The project involves development of 41 roads.

Captain Raja Rao, who headed the expert committee set up by the Karnataka High Court to look into the status of roads, told The Hindu that the committee had informed the court and the BMP that the quality of KMRP roads was poor.

"We noticed that most of the bitumin and aggregate character tests were not done. Bituminous Macadem (BM) and Bituminous Concrete (BC) are laid without following the technical specifications and prescribed stipulations. It is unfortunate that these violations are not being dealt with seriously," he said.

The KMRP Project director Puttamalagaiah said KNR Constructions, the company executing the first phase of the project, was issued a notice last month for delaying work. "Only 20 per cent of work has been done on Magadi Road. If potholes have appeared, the contractor will have to rectify it," he said.