In a move to check poor road works, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has doubled the defect liability period (DLP) for contractors. This is in addition to several other stringent new quality check mechanisms.
In the current DLP system, contractors are responsible for fixing any defects, including potholes, found on newly constructed roads for a term of three years for asphalt roads and five years for concrete roads. In the new road contracts to be tendered in the next week, the DLP term has been raised to 10 years for concrete roads and five years for asphalt roads.
“By raising the DLP period, there is more accountability for resurfaced roads as each road contract exceeds Rs 100 crore. This should deter contractors from cutting costs on quality as it is more expensive to maintain large percentages of the roads under extended DLP terms,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner S V R Srinivas, in charge of the roads department.
Additionally, the corporation has also introduced a “maintenance” clause in the new tenders that makes it mandatory for contractors to maintain a minimum 10 per cent of the newly constructed roads.
“The DLP conditions mainly include fixing minor defects such as cracks on the surface, and potholes. However, with each passing year, the road undergoes some wear-and-tear. Hence, we have included a maintenance clause which mandates that the contractor must treat a certain percentage of the top layer of each new road every year,” Srinivas said.
” Six months before the DLP expires, we will audit the roads, and if it does not meet standards, the roads will have to be resurfaced again,” he added.
To evaluate the condition of the newly resurfaced/constructed roads, this year, the BMC has also included tenders worth Rs 10 lakh each for Roughness Index monitors and Bump Integrators.