Few contracts for concretisation of Mumbai's roads cancelled: Samant

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Efforts to concretise Mumbai's roads faced hurdles after a few contracts were cancelled as the contractors failed to meet certain requirements, said Maharashtra industries minister Uday Samant on Wednesday.

Replying to questions by members of legislative council (MLCs) Sunil Shinde and Vilas Potnis in the Upper House of the state legislature here, he said that in the first of the concretisation project, tenders for 910 roads, having a total length of 397 km, were floated.

However, the execution faced challenges after a few contracts, including one worth Rs 1,233, were cancelled as the contractors failed to meet the specified timeframe and legal obligations, he said.

Of the total roads, work on 279 roads has commenced, he said, adding that five contractors, whose agreements were cancelled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), face a cumulative penalty of Rs 96.5 crore.

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In August, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had said that Mumbai roads would be free of potholes in the next two to two-and-half years and all roads would be concretised.

When MLC Shinde sought to know why the contractors were yet to be blacklisted, Samant said past attempts for such action had resulted in legal challenges.
"We will take a thorough review (of the reasons) before taking any decision about blacklisting (any contractor)," he said.

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