Smart City, CSMC to aid in developing 110 roads!

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The construction of 110 roads through Smart City funds is underway in the city and, out of it, 40 roads have been completed. Meanwhile, the administration has directed the contractor to dig some patches of the four roads reported to be of substandard quality and rebuild them. Till then the smart city administration has taken a stand of not releasing the contractor’s payment of these four roads.

List of substandard roads?

With a heavy heart the officials told the contractor to reconstruct patches on the road from Roplekar Hospital to Jawaharnagar Police Station. Hence the road has been dug. The roads which are also reported to have been done of substandard quality is the one passing through Champa Chowk, Millennium Park and Bajrang Chowk (opp Bank of Maharashtra). The contractor will have to dig some portions on the above roads.

Earlier, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) submitted the detailed project reports (DPRs) of 100 roads to the state government for its approval, but the government has not released any funds. Later on, it was decided to develop the city’s important roads under the Smart City Mission. The smart city was having Rs 100 crore in its exchequer. Hence to meet the demand for more money, the Smart City has to withdraw Rs 100 crore from its fixed deposit. Besides, as a part of the economic planning, the CSMC was to put in the remaining Rs 100 crore and pay the same to the contractor.

In the past two years there emerged several hurdles in taking decisions relating to smart city roads. Hence the road works sans momentum. All the road works were expected to be completed by March 2023, but so far the contractor has completed 40 roads only, out of which, the administration found the construction of four roads was of poor quality. The samples of these roads were sent for testing to IIT Mumbai and it made critical remarks on the construction of roads in the report. Hence the vigilance of the smart city has come under the scanner.

Why should CSMC give Rs 100 cr?

It may be noted that the municipal corporation has also announced construction of more than 40 roads of valuing Rs 100 crore through its funds. Now the question arises why it should give

Rs 100 crore more to the smart city office for their roads. Former municipal commissioner Dr Abhijeet Chaudhary had instructed the Smart City contractor to stop the works after construction of 60 roads from the available funds. The present municipal commissioner G Sreekanth, however, has decided to complete all 110 roads through the Smart City office and a letter in this regard has been issued to the contractor. It is also decided that the CSMC will also have to contribute Rs 100 crore.