Monsoon over, MC set to resume road recarpeting | Chandigarh News

The panel approved the procurement of six new poclain machines and sanctioned the hiring of a specialist drainage consultant to engineer a permanent solution for the chronic waterlogging bottleneck at Sherpur Chowk Road Recarpeting Projects Worth ?55 Crore Stalled Due to Financial Crunch: As the three quarters of the current financial year is going to end in the month of December and moreover the favourable climate period has also ended as the road recarpeting works cannot be done in extreme winter season, the planned recarpeting work could not be started due to ongoing financial crunch in the MC. Though, the MC has planned around rupees 55 crore road recarpeting works of the current financial year of 2024-2025 and even one sub-division had initiated the tender exercise too in the past, but due to paucity of the money, none of the single planned work of current financial year started so far. In-fact around rupees 5 to 6 crore work of previous financial year is also pending. Photo TOI

Chandigarh: With the monsoon season almost over, the MC is all set to resume road recarpeting works across the city. While the MC has asked all agencies and bidders concerned to resume work and ensure adequate manpower, availability of sufficient bitumen, which is used for road recarpeting, remains an issue. Since the supply of bitumen is still not smooth and regular, the civic body has asked agencies to prioritise roads requiring the most work.The MC had completed the tender process and allotted works to eligible agencies or bidders earlier this year, but road recarpeting could not be carried out at full pace due to the non-availability of bitumen. With the onset of the monsoon, work was completely stopped.As per MC records, around 500 kilometres of roads are to be recarpeted at a cost of around Rs 70 crore. Most of these are internal roads in residential and commercial areas and parking lots across the city that have been identified for the work.“Work is allotted subdivision-wise, and sub-divisional engineers as well as executive engineers are responsible for road recarpeting works in their respective areas. A priority list of roads in poor condition has been prepared so that they can be taken up first. If all goes well and the availability of bitumen remains regular, the authority will try to complete the maximum number of road recarpeting works before the winter season,” sources in the MC told TOI.As in the previous round, the MC has hired the National Institute of Technical Training and Research (NITTTR), Sector 26, as the third-party agency for the technical audit of roads. The institute will evaluate the work and issue certificates accordingly. It will also check whether road recarpeting has been carried out as per the laid-down specifications. The agencies or bidders will be paid by the MC based on NITTTR’s certifications.Quality control is one of the key components of the work and needs to be ensured on the ground.Box: Key roads slotted for recarpetingRoads | Length1: V-5 road of Sector 37-A and B | 3.11 kilometres2: V-5 road of Sector 56 | 3.6 kilometres3: V-6 road of Sector 37-A | 3.1kilometres4: V-6 road of Sector 36 | 6.4 kilometres5: V-4 road, Police Line, Sector 26 | 1.9 kilometres6: V-4 road, Sector 46 | 3.9 kilometres7: V-4 road, Sector 33 | 3.4 kilometres8: Parking of Sector 32 | 6.8 kilometres9: Mango Garden Road | 5.06 kilometres10: Parking of Sector 44 | 4.9 kilometres11: Parking of Sector 35 | 5 kilometres12: Parking of Sector 20 | 4.18 kilometres13: Parking of Sector 30 | 4.2 kilometres14: Timber Market | 3.43 kilometres15: Car Bazaar Parking | 4.48 kilometres