Doubts over quality of roads under Municipal Bond Scheme

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, SEPT. 15. The myth of "quality roads" and adoption of "international standards" in improving arterial roads of the City under the Rs.125-crore Municipal Bond Scheme, was on Friday exposed by Prof. C.E.G.Justo, an eminent Highway Engineer, who was closely involved with the scheme in its initial stages.

So much so that Prof. Justo wondered whether roads improved under the scheme would survive beyond the next monsoon (as against the tall claims of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike that the roads were made to last for about 10 years).

Delivering a lecture on "Management of roads in the City" organised by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Engineers Association as part of Engineers Day celebration, Prof. Justo pointed out how the Mahanagara Palike had failed to ensure quality of work under the project.

Prof. Justo even dubbed the money spent under the scheme as a "national waste, the loser being the public." However, he did not mean that money had been misappropriated. "The contractors may have spent the (entire) amount," but the wrong processes and lack of quality control measures had resulted in bad work.

He said that "not even 10 per cent" of the specifications were adhered to while filling up pot-holes and laying asphalt. As a result the "pot-holes" would resurface in a "short-period." There were already evidences to this even on the Ring Road. At some places road surface had caved in by 30 mm, Prof. Justo claimed.

At this rate, he wondered, whether the roads would stay even for one year. Observing that maintenance of a "required temperature" in the ready-mix (a mix of tar and aggregates) played a key-role in quality of roads. "Unfortunately, nobody monitors this and the result is that the strength of the road is not even 10 per cent of the designed parametres."

He was sorry that one did not know how to use rollers and when to use them on roads being laid. "Everyone involved needs to be trained." As many as 60 per cent of cases of wrong processes and mistakes were a result of ignorance, he added.

Prof. Justo, who pulled out of the scheme when he felt that the Mahanagara Palike was "not serious enough" in ensuring quality of work (during the tenure of former Commissioner, Mr. K.P.Pande), said lack of seriousness was visible from the word go. He and other Mahanagara Palike officers were given a mere 48 hours to prepare a project report by the then Commissioner, Dr. A.Ravindra, under the pretext that they needed to be submitted to Crisil, a credit rating agency.

Many of the provisions made under the scheme had been forgotten. One of them was creation of bus-bays for BMTC buses on the 250-km of roads being developed under the scheme. Not one bus bay had been created so far.

Citing the example of Nrupatunga Road where vehicles still queued up when buses stopped near the Government Science College, he said creation of bus-bays on the road had been included in the original plan.

Another provision was to ensure that there was no "undulation" beyond three mm on footpaths covered with kerb stones. Though this was done initially, it was abandoned subsequently. "We still have more than 30 mm `undulations' on the footpaths even on roads where work has been completed," he said.

Besides drains were supposed to have been covered up to make pedestrian movement easier. This too had not been done.

Asserting that traffic movement would have improved sufficiently if the specifications and provisions of the original plan had been adhered to, he said that the planners always tended to forget for whom the roads were being made, and planning and implementations were not blended into one package as should have been the case.

He, however, was happy that maintenance of drains, which played a key role in maintenance of roads, was being given some attention now by the Mahanagara Palike.

He suggested that the roads could be given to the contractors on "Build Own and Operate and Transfer" (BOOT) basis, so that the contractors themselves appointed consultants and made efforts to ensure quality of work. As poor work would affect contractors' reputation, they would give "utmost care" to quality of work, he said and added that the Hubli-Dharwad Bypass was an example.

He said executive engineers should be made "owners" of roads in their respective jurisdiction and they should be given powers to maintain them.

Prof. N.G.Tavane, who is heading the Quality Control Laboratory of National Highways Department, pointed out that roads were designed to bear weight of 12-tonne trucks but lorries carrying even over 24 tonnes of loads were being allowed to ply on them.

Mr. R.Jaiprasad, Engineer-in-Chief, BMP, presided. Earlier, the Mayor, Mr. M.Ramachandrappa inaugurated the function. Mr. K.Jairaj, Commissioner of the Mahanagara Palike spoke.

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