Chennai: In a move to ensure laying of ‘long lasting’ roads in all its 15 zones, Chennai corporation has invited private project management consultancy (PMC) firms to evaluate tenders, quality of tar, bitumen and other aspects while laying roads in the city.
According to a Chennai corporation official, the civic body has floated a tender inviting interested PMC companies recently.
“The PMC firm will scrutinize, review and approve the project execution details and designs submitted by road contractors. The consultancy firm also will inspect the central hot mix plant and production of tar, bitumen and other components used for laying roads,” the official added.
The PMC firm would be given Rs 2 crore remuneration per year for assisting the civic body in overseeing the road works which includes 387.35 km of bus route roads and 5,623 km of interior roads in 15 zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
“Corporation engineers are having a tough time in maintaining the quality of the roads as few contractors have enough influence to change engineers they don't like. When the private consultancy brought into the system, the contractors would be forced to abide by the rules and quality standards,” a Chennai corporation source said.
However, this is not the first time the civic body appointing a private firm to oversee roadwork.
“A similar approach had been used during Global Investor Meet, 2015. During that period, 194 bus route roads were laid with the help of PMC. Those roads remain in good condition even now. The PMC would not only oversee the quality of roads but also ensure the timely completion of the work,” the source added.
According to the official, the Chennai Corporation has been following multi-level quality checking standards for the time being. “First our engineers would check quality at hot mix plants. Then the site engineer would monitor road-laying work on site. The quality control cell in Chennai Corporation would check the quality of the road before Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services test the quality. Now PMC also would monitor the quality,” the official said.
It is also learnt that the Chennai Corporation has appointed a PMC to monitor storm drain works in extended areas of City Corporation.
“Storm drain works extending more than 370 km are being carried out with the help of PMC. The World Bank funded project is going at good pace and we have completed nearly 320 km of the network within 2 years. The World Bank also appreciated the quality of the drains,” the official added.
