The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has taken action by issuing a contract termination notice to ‘M/s Roadway Solutions Infra Limited’ (RSIL), one of the five contractors entrusted with the ambitious Rs 6,000 crore project to concretize 397 kilometers of Mumbai’s roads. An official from the BMC confirmed that RSIL has been served a letter and given a 15-day window to respond. However, a decision regarding the appointment of a new contractor will only be made after the termination is formally approved.
RSIL was responsible for the concretization of roads in eight municipal wards. Earlier this year, a penalty of Rs 10 crore was imposed on RSIL for the delayed commencement of the project. Although the work orders were issued in January, the actual work did not begin, even with the onset of the monsoon. It’s common practice to avoid civil works during the rainy season. Despite the monsoon’s withdrawal, the contractor has yet to initiate the groundwork. The BMC’s move was instigated by a complaint raised by former BJP corporator Makarand Narwekar. He pointed out that roads had been barricaded for six months, causing severe inconvenience to citizens who were already grappling with poor road conditions.
Narwekar urged the BMC to not only impose penalties but also blacklist RSIL and inform government agencies like PWD and MMRDA to avoid appointing them for future projects. Mumbai boasts a network of 2,050 kilometers of roads under BMC’s jurisdiction. Of these, 990 kilometers are composed of Cement and Concrete (CC), while the concretization of 270 kilometers of roads began last year.
Following the commitment to make Mumbai’s roads pothole-free by 2024, the BMC initiated a project to concretize 397 kilometers of roads, marking the most expensive roadworks contract in the city’s history. After an initial tender was scrapped in November due to limited bidder response, a fresh tender worth Rs 6,070 crore was floated, and work orders were issued on January 18, 2023, the day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the mega road concretizing project at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).