The bidding for 440 km road contracts that was supposed to open on October 21 has been extended till October 27 on account of Diwali. Since bids have not been opened, bidders can make their submissions till October 25, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. Following instructions from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the BMC has called for five tenders to convert roads into cement concrete ones. The aggregate amount of the contracts is more than Rs 5,000 crore. Of the five tenders, one each is for the city and eastern suburbs and the other three are for the western suburbs. This is being done to attract contractors with experience in making national and state highways to improve the overall road quality in Mumbai. It is the first such road improvement move by the BMC. To keep small companies out of the bidding process, the civic body has removed the joint venture provision. This means that only companies with high turnover can participate, thus paving the way for big players for city roads contracts, which was not the case otherwise. Moreover, BMC has also made it compulsory that the main contractor has to pay all purchase bills in their own company's name, so as to prevent companies from appointing subcontractors for the road work. The defect liability period has also been extended by five more years to 10 years. The appointed contractor will get the 20 per cent amount of the project during the defect liability period in tranches of 2 per cent every year, said a civoc official. Meanwhile, apart from frequent digging of roads, the BMC has also made soak pits mandatory to prevent flooding or water logging situations during the rainy season. The contractors need to construct soak pits every 200 to 300 metres on the new cement concrete roads, said the official.
