Contractors’ stir, bad weather delaying city road works

Civic body hopeful of making roads motorable before Onam holidays

The go-slow agitation by contractors protesting against huge unpaid bills and inclement weather are preventing the progress of road repair works in the city even as the civic administrators say city roads may become motorable before Onam holidays.

The contractors have been on the warpath for the past few weeks, demanding the clearing of their bills. As the payments of the completed works have been delayed by over two years, a large number of the contractors have landed in deep financial crisis and quit the job.

“The delayed payments have forced some contractors to compromise on the quality of road works,” said V.P. Chandran, the CPI (M) leader in the Kochi Corporation Council.

‘Allotment cut’

He added that the allotment to the individual corporation divisions was drastically cut by the civic administration following the cut in funds imposed by the State government. Such measures would affect the repair and maintenance works in all the divisions of the local body, he said. “The long delay in completing the official formalities for awarding the works coupled with paucity of funds and non-cooperation of contractors have hit city life hard,” he said.

P.M. Harris, chairman of the works standing committee of the corporation, said the paper works on the road repairs were completed and the officials were asked to initiate the works when the weather became conducive.

“The works will begin when the rains recede and a dry condition prevails on the roads,” he added.

A meeting of the officials of the works standing committee held last week took stock of the situation. While the repair works for major city roads were completed, some roads in the West Kochi area were missed out. In the central city area, the repair works of the road at Pottakkuzhy was pending. The levelling of potholes on the Thamannam-Pullepady stretch and other major city roads were completed, he said.

The civic body plans to clear the bills of its contractors till December 2014. It will raise an overdraft of Rs.10 crore from a bank for clearing the payments of its contractors before Onam. “Once the bills are partially cleared, the contactors, who are on go-slow mode, will actively get involved in the road work,” he said.

CITY LIFE HIT

Contractors on go-slow agitation, protesting against huge unpaid bills

Civic body plans to clear the bills of contractors till December 2014

Paper work on road repairs completed, says works committee head