Mumbai: BMC to introduce Design, Build, Transfer scheme for fixing accountability in road construction

To fix accountability of road contractors and to improve the quality of work done, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to introduce the concept of Design, Build and Transfer (DBT) soon, a senior BMC official said on Tuesday.

"We have introduced a new concept known as Design, Build and Transfer (DBT) to set accountability and to improve the work quality. We have got a good response from the bidders for tenders under DBT and bids that have come in are also higher compared to the last time," a senior BMC engineer told reporters here.

"Clear accountability will be set and the quality of the materials used to build a road will be monitored yearly and hence the contract will be renewed under DBT. The contractors will also take care of the maintenance for 10 years instead of the current 3 and 5 years of defect liability period," he added.

According to the senior engineer, approximately Rs 1,500 crore worth of works will be done under the DBT scheme.

Opposition leaders in the BMC have however questioned the viability of the DBT scheme.

Opposition leader in BMC, Ravi Raja said: "We have seen the condition of the roads the last time and under this scheme, the contractors will have to maintain the roads for 10 years which will result in at least 25 per cent increase in tender rates."

"The condition of BMC is really bad and in this situation, if you give an extra 25 per cent to contractors it will be an added burden on the taxpayer's funds," Raja added.

( With inputs from ANI )