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.“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. If the system works, we will expand it to across the city with a bigger budget,” the official said. The penalty rates will be 5% of the cost fixed for a milestone.The state highways department has floated the tenders worth Rs 44 lakh and Rs 48 lakhs for roads in its section-II which covers a few key stretches such as the 100-feet-road Grand Northern Trunk Road. The tenders mandate contractors to maintain the roads for a period of six months.So far, the state highways department-maintained potholes and craters largely through its own road workers from its operational and maintenance funds. 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.NHAI uses performance-based maintenance contracts (PBMC)to hold contractors and concessionaires accountable for asset quality over extended periods rather than short-term fixes as it involves vast stretches running to several hundred kilometres.“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. 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.
