Ghaziabad: Roads across 112 km of the city lie dug up, dust hangs in the air, but repairs are nowhere in sight as a global bitumen shortage, fuelled by the West Asia crisis, has stalled all work under the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.Officials said around 20 contractors, awarded road repair work worth Rs 200 crore under GMC, covering 85 road stretches across the city, have suspended work after bitumen prices surged nearly 75% since March, when tenders were awarded.“As of today, the rate of bitumen is between Rs 76,000 per metric tonne and Rs 82,000 per metric tonne. In March, when the work tender was released, its price was Rs 47,000 per metric tonne, and rates are expected to rise further. In the absence of clarity on how the govt plans to compensate contractors engaged in road repair work, work remains suspended,” GMC contractor Sanjiv Tyagi said.NK Choudhary, another contractor, said tenders for the 85 stretches were issued in March ahead of the monsoon, as is standard practice. “On March 5, the rate was Rs 51,102 per metric tonne. By April 16, it had risen to Rs 82,122 per metric tonne,” he said.The UP cabinet recently directed agencies to take corrective measures and issued a govt order outlining modalities for compensating contractors for the price differential. However, the order explicitly names only PWD and NHAI, leaving GMC and other municipal agencies in a policy gap.“My firm has been allotted a contract for road repair work by PWD in Ghaziabad, and there is no suspension of work there,” Tyagi said. “But since GMC, or, for that matter, any other municipality in the state, is not mentioned in the order, this has led to apprehension among contractors. We have sought clarity on this issue.”PWD chief engineer Ramraja confirmed that contractors working for the department would get the benefit of the state’s compensation. “As per the govt’s direction, additional payment for bitumen for bituminous work will be made every month to account for price changes, and a formula has been devised to insulate PWD contractors,” he said.Tyagi explained the material at the centre of the crisis. “The VG-40 grade of bitumen is used for road repair work. It is viscosity-graded bitumen — hardness- and temperature-resistant — and it acts as the adhesive that binds road construction material together. More than 88% of petroleum products come from West Asia, and the ongoing crisis has disrupted supply chains, causing both a shortage and a sharp rise in prices,” he said.On Monday, contractors met municipal commissioner Vikramaditya Singh Malik, who assured them the corporation would write to the state govt to seek inclusion in the cabinet order and resolve the ambiguity.
