CHENNAI: In a first, the state highways department has piloted a performance-based contract for road maintenance in the city, as per which the contractor has to fix potholes within 24 hours of complaint. In case of failure, the contractor will get a notice and fine. The third non-compliance will lead to termination of contract.
The penalty rates will be 5% of the cost fixed for a milestone.
If the system works, we will expand it to across the city with a bigger budget,” the official said. It involves damage-correction, response work, levying penalties and also maintaining tolls in highways,” the official said, adding that it fixes accountability and also helps in extracting work, levying penalties. “This is a pilot attempt for a few roads and the work is only for fixing potholes, attending to road damages, repainting medians, wherever needed, and cleaning road-dust. We have set up criteria on timings, penalties, and deadline of contract as six months. There was no centralised system to fix damaged roads, and the roads used to be entirely relaid. In a review meeting with contractors and officials, highways minister Aadhav Arjuna had mentioned that the highways will soon move into performance-based maintenance contracts for short-term and long-term. “Once this pilot is over, the highways will go for long-term maintenance contractors, similar to how NHAI is doing. The NHAI attaches long-term maintenance at the period of laying of roads itself.