Mumbai: After the exposure of a Rs. 6,000 crore road contract scam, the BMC reduced the cost by Rs. 900 crore last year. Although the first phase of road concretisation is still incomplete, the civic body is moving forward with awarding contracts for the second phase.
However, the BMC has been silent about the actions taken against contractors who abandoned their work halfway through in the island city. They have not disclosed whether penalties were recovered, what percentage of the work was completed, or if the contractor was blacklisted, questioned Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aditya Thackeray in a press conference on Monday.
Once the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government comes into power, an inquiry will be conducted, payments for the work will be halted, and the responsible ministers and civic officials will be put behind bars, stated Thackeray.
The BMC embarked on a road concretisation project divided into two phases last year. However, as of now, only 30% of the roadworks have been completed in the eastern and western suburbs under the first phase. Additionally, the BMC canceled a Rs.1,600 crore contract with Roadway Solutions India Infrastructure Ltd (RSIIL) for road concretisation in the island city due to delays.
In the second phase, which involves the concretisation of 312 kms of roads, the civic body has issued a tender worth Rs. 6,200 crores. Alarmingly, bids for this phase have been submitted by the same contractors, including one that was blacklisted in 2015.
Thackeray alleged that the new work is being undertaken to line the pockets of these contractors. He also highlighted that the cost of the Bandra-Versova Link Road project has surged by Rs. 7,500 crore. "This escalation appears to be strategically designed to benefit certain contractor friends," he stated.
He questioned whether the Central Government's National Highway Authority has overlooked the deteriorating conditions of major highways such as Mumbai-Goa, Mumbai-Nashik, and Mumbai-Ahmedabad. Furthermore, he pointed out the increase in accidents on the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Corridor.
Thackeray also asked why the BJP, which occasionally criticises road projects, has not withdrawn its support from the Eknath Shinde government.
Meanwhile, a senior civic official stated, "The contract for the second phase of road concretization has not yet been awarded and is still under negotiation. Additionally, the civic body has engaged the Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay) to implement rigorous quality control measures during the concretisation process."
