No bidders, BMC suspects boycott

Even as its potholes repair works have found no bidders this year, the civic body has decided to hand over the work to contractors in-charge of pre-monsoon road repair work.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is sceptical of the quality of work these contractors would be able to deliver, but has been left with no choice, as its monsoon road work has found no bidders, despite inviting bids the third time.

Sources in the civic body said that the only bidder who did apply the third time, quoted a price about 45 per cent higher than BMC’s estimated cost.

Officials believe this is a reaction to the civic body’s crackdown on contractors found guilty in the '352-crore road repair work scam this year and the nullah desilting scam of last year.

A senior civic official said, “The contractor lobby is collectively trying to corner the BMC, and jeopardise our work by boycotting it entirely. But we have a strategy as well. We are looking for ways to do civic work without the contractors who are acting against us.”

After the nullah desilting scam rocked the BMC post the June 19 deluge last year, the desilting works of minor nullahs found very few bidders this monsoon. Some of the desilting contractors quoted prices higher than 50 per cent of the BMC’s estimated cost. This resulted in the BMC awarding desilting work for minor nullahs to local ward-level NGOs this year.

The potholes repair contracts have met with the same fate, putting the civic body in a fix. The civic body has now adjusted the cost of the potholes repair work with the cost of pre-monsoon road repairs, and handed the new contracts to the same contractors. The civic official said, “There isn’t much work this year, which has worked in our favour. Two years ago, there were about 24,000 potholes, whereas last year the number shot down to 6,000. This year we are expecting even fewer potholes, so road work during monsoon will not be hectic.”