BENGALURU: Greater Bengaluru Authority’s (GBA) zonal commissioners on Friday said that the civic body’s immediate agenda is fixing potholes. They said that repairing or relaying of roads will be taken up only after November.
The zonal commissioners have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with batch- mix plants worth Rs 5 crore to ensure continuous supply of bitumen to the zones. White topping tenders which were called earlier are also being utilised to fill potholes.
Pommala Sunil Kumar, commissioner, north zone, said he signed an MoU of Rs 2.5 crore with a batch-mix plant contractor in north Bengaluru. He said: “I have also entered into an MoU on behalf of other commissioners for an additional Rs 2.5 crore for the same. As and when the money is exhausted more will be added. Contractors under defect liability period have also been told to fix potholes. Other government departments have been told to repair the roads.”
Rajendra Cholan, central zone, commissioner, said the agencies that are maintaining the white topped roads have been told to address the roads. Also the Rs 685 crore that was allocated to GBA for black topped roads has been divided among the five corporations.
“We have entered into agreements with batch mix plants for filling potholes. Contractors have been told that if the potholes are not filled, then money will be deducted when payments are being cleared. In addition, Rs 25 crore has been allocated to each corporation,” he added.
Rajendra KV, commissioner, West Zone, said the Rs 25 lakh awarded to each ward is being utilised to fill potholes. “We have hired another agency to fill potholes, supply materials and labour. Short term tenders have also been called to fill potholes. Road repair works will be taken up later,” he said.
Lokhandre Snehal Sudhakar, Additional Commissioner, Development, East City Corporation, said they have adopted a different method. The contractors have been told that payments will be made only after potholes are filled and so the focus is quality execution of work within the stipulated deadline.
A senior GBA official said: “Repairing roads is not priority. Patch work and pothole filling is. The exercise of repairing or relaying will be done after November, when rains subside. The government presently wants a quick-fix solution. Relaying roads is a long-term exercise and with roads being moist and heavy traffic movement it cannot be done immediately.”