‘Repair roads or lose contract’
Contractors maintaining city roads, which are under the defect liability period (DLP), now face the risk of losing their contracts, if they fail to repair potholes on time. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday threatened to revoke their contracts, if they fail to repair potholes after five complaints.
Standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said, “We have already decided to levy double penalty on contractors who fail to repair potholes on roads that fall under the DLP. Taking the action further, we have also threatened to revoke their contracts if they fail to repair potholes after being intimated five times.”
The DLP stipulates that a contractor has to maintain the road free of cost during the specified period, after building it. The DLP for asphalt roads is three years, while that of concrete roads is five. However, civic officials have received several complaints of contractors turning a blind eye towards road maintenance, once they are constructed, resulting in damage of roads.
“The civic body has also decided that if the DLP contractor fails to repair potholes within 48 hours, the contractor specially appointed for pothole repairs will carry out the restoration of road. The DLP contractor will be charged double the amount spent by the later contractor as a fine,” Mr Shewale said.
According to civic officials, the BMC has so far collected `57 lakh as fine from contractors for failing to repair roads that are under the DLP.
Currently, the contractors are fined `1,000 per pothole per day. The BMC has 1,243 DLP roads, of which 335 are in the island city, 570 in the western suburbs and 338 in the eastern suburbs.
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