The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is preparing to withdraw road concreting contracts worth around Rs 380 crore from two contractors after slow progress and incomplete works disrupted the city’s major road-upgrade programme.
The proposal involves removing approximately Rs 300 crore of work assigned to NCC and another Rs 80 crore entrusted to Eagle in the second phase of the project. The proposal has been sent to Municipal Commissioner Ashwini Bhide for approval. Once cleared, the pending works are expected to be incorporated into Phase 3 and awarded to new contractors through fresh tenders.
The civic body’s large-scale cement-concreting programme covers 2,175 roads spanning approximately 712 km across Mumbai. The project has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 covers 733 roads with a combined length of 324.91 km, while Phase 2 includes 1,442 roads covering around 388 km.
Work on 694 roads under Phase 1 has reportedly been completed, taking progress to about 89%. In Phase 2, 1,203 roads have been completed, representing nearly 75% progress. However, around 275 roads remain unfinished, with the city division emerging as one of the areas facing significant delays.
NCC and Eagle were assigned several road packages in the city division, but the slow pace of execution has prompted the administration to consider reallocating their pending works.
The affected areas include several prominent neighbourhoods. Zone 1 covers Colaba, Fort, Marine Lines, Grant Road, Byculla and Walkeshwar, while Zone 2 includes Sion, Matunga, Wadala, Parel, Dadar, Mahim and Prabhadevi. Residents in these areas have been facing traffic congestion, dust and potholes amid prolonged road works.
The development also follows criticism from BJP corporator Makarand Narvekar, who had written to the municipal commissioner and Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar seeking cancellation of NCC’s contract over delays in South Mumbai. He reportedly claimed that only 15% of the assigned work had been completed over three years.
With the BMC targeting completion of the concreting programme by May 2027, contractor performance and timely re-tendering will be crucial to meeting the deadline.
Source: Nav Shakti
