Contactors hike road costs after bagging orders

Date : May 4, 2012

The BMC, in three years from 2007-08 to 2009-10 , allowed contractors who recently bagged a major roads contract to increase costs in 17 major projects by an average of 51.5 per cent.  The projects, executed and tendered separately , were originally pegged at a total of Rs 292 crore, but the escalations were to the tune of Rs 150.43 crore, boosting the final project costs to Rs 442.43 crore.

An 18project, for a road from Worli Sea Face to Haji Ali, was initially worth Rs 11 crore, but costs escalated by a whopping 627.3 per cent. The Rs 80-crore escalation sent the final project cost to Rs 91 crore.

All the companies that executed these 18 projects are among the nine that recently bagged a major Rs 550-crore tender to build and upgrade 50 km of new roads in the city.