PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) has decided to buy road-making materials directly from companies instead of giving this work to contractors. This big decision came after finding out that some contractors were cheating by sending wrong bills and using poor quality materials.
The city officials found that contractors were charging too much money and using bad quality materials for road construction in 2022-2023. This affected about 127 kilometers of roads that cost Rs. 285 crore. After checking everything carefully, PMC has banned three big contractors who were caught cheating.
Now, PMC will work directly with four government-approved companies that make road materials. They’ll use computers to keep track of all materials and check their quality. This new system will help save 32% of the money that was being wasted earlier, which means saving about Rs. 47.8 crore every year.
PMC is spending Rs. 12.4 crore to build three new places where they can store materials and test their quality. These places will be ready by March 2024 and will have special machines to check if the materials are good enough for roads.
The city officials think this new way of working will help them complete 92% of their road projects within the money they planned to spend. Earlier, they could only complete 61% of the work properly.
PMC will train 234 of its engineers to handle this new system. They’ll learn how to check material quality and keep proper records on computers. This new system will start slowly over six months, focusing first on the main city roads that need urgent repairs.
The investigation into this matter was part of a larger effort to crack down on criminal activities across Pune’s construction sector.
