Concreting Of Roads In Mumbai Stalled Due To Low Response Tenders

Mumbai, 2nd November 2022: Abandoning the resolution to make the roads in Mumbai pothole-free in the next two years, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had ordered the Mumbai Municipal Corporation administration to cement concrete on all the roads. Accordingly, the municipal administration had called for tenders for road works costing around 5 thousand 800 crores. But the administration says that the tenders were cancelled due to low response. However, after the order of the Chief Minister, the tender called for has been cancelled, and doubts are being expressed.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde reviewed the road works and cement concreting works in Mumbai in July. Cement concrete roads are being constructed in phases in Mumbai. About 989.84 km of roads have been completed so far. The remaining roads are also going to be cement concreted in a phased manner. 236.58 km long roads are under construction in the current financial year. 2 thousand 200 crores will be spent on it. Another 400 km long road is proposed this year. Cement concreting of the remaining 423.51 km of roads will also be taken up during 2023-2024.

For this, the municipal administration started the tender process in August 2022. It included a total of five tenders, namely City-1, Eastern Suburbs-1 and Western Suburbs-3. The total estimated cost for the works included in these five tenders was Rs 5,806 crore. However, due to low response to these tenders, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation administration has decided to cancel them. New tenders will be called for these works soon, before that the terms and conditions of the tenders will be re-examined, and it will be a joint decision to call for new tenders with the view of speedy work without any compromise on quality and inclusion of latest technology, the municipal administration has explained.

Strict terms and conditions were included in the tender process to ensure that big-name companies were included in these tenders. Therefore, the administration says that there was no response to the tenders. Four companies had come forward for one tender for the city area, two bidders for the eastern suburbs and three tenders for the western suburbs.