Nagpur: Even after upgrading its hot mix plant last year to strengthen in-house road maintenance, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is set to hire a private agency to repair potholes across the city — a move likely to cost the civic body Rs1.43 crore and raise questions over the utilisation of public funds. The proposal will come up for approval during the standing committee meeting scheduled on March 18.According to the agenda note, the civic body plans to award a contract to a private firm for repairing potholes on tar roads using a jet patcher. The work includes pothole repairs across the city through the hot mix plant division. The project was originally estimated at Rs1.49 crore, and administrative approval was granted under the public works budget head. When the NMC invited e-tenders, the firm initially quoted Rs1.30 crore, which was 4.74% higher than the approved tender value of Rs1.24 crore.However, after final negotiations on Feb 19 with the superintendent engineer, the contractor agreed to reduce the rate to 4.2% below the approved tender amount. Based on this revised offer, the work order is proposed at Rs1.19 crore, with Rs21.55 lakh GST and Rs2.39 lakh insurance, taking the total contract value to Rs1.43 crore.The proposal is likely to spark criticism, as the NMC upgraded its hot mix plant last calendar year with the objective of carrying out in-house road repairs and resurfacing works. The facility was intended to reduce dependency on private contractors and enable quicker pothole repairs during monsoon and post-monsoon periods.Civic activists and some corporators repeatedly questioned why the NMC continued to outsource such works despite having its own machinery and infrastructure. They argued that hiring private contractors for pothole repairs defeated the purpose of investing in the hot mix plant upgrade and ultimately burdened taxpayers. The standing committee will decide whether to approve the work order during the upcoming meeting. If cleared, the contract will allow the private agency to carry out pothole repairs across Nagpur using jet patcher technology under the supervision of the hot mix plant division.The issue comes at a time when road conditions in several parts of the city already drew criticism from residents, especially after repeated complaints of potholes and poor maintenance of asphalt roads.
