HYDERABAD: With an end to the five-year agreement between two GHMC zones — Serilingampally and Kukatpally — maintenance of the main road over 810 kilometres under the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP) by private agencies hangs in balance. For the remaining four GHMC zones, including Khairatabad, Secunderabad, LB Nagar and Charminar, the agreement is going to expire next month. The GHMC has not taken any decision to float fresh tenders for the maintenance of CRMP roads nor given any extension to the agencies which are currently maintaining them.
Meanwhile, the GHMC has invited bids from the agencies to provide truck-mounted mechanical sweeping services through compact heavy-duty vacuum sweepers to clean large flat paved areas on CRMP road stretches in Kukatpally and Serilingampally till June 2025. The agreement was handed over to private agencies in November 2019 which were entrusted to take up sweeping roads, laying bitumen and concrete roads, and developing road infrastructure at regular intervals.
The agreement had mentioned that 50% of the roads should be recarpeted in the first year, 30% in the second year, and the remaining 20% in the third year, and maintenance responsibilities should be taken care of for another two years. Meanwhile, the officials believe that there is no need to recarpet the roads for the next few months even though the contract period has expired in some zones. If any potholes or a few stretches are getting damaged, repairs can be done from time to time.
The GHMC engineering wing will supervise the maintenance of the roads till fresh CRMP agencies are put in place. Till then, the officials are considering outsourcing patchworks and immediate filling of potholes and road damages.