The 153-year-old Carnac Bridge is a vital link in south Mumbai that runs over the railway tracks between CSMT and Masjid Bunder station. (File Photo)The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a report, has pointed out irregularities in the planning stage of the demolition and reconstruction works carried out on the Carnac and Hancock bridges, both century-old structures that were declared unfit following structural audits.
The report, published in June, highlighted the money spent on the maintenance and construction of various bridges in Mumbai by the civic body.
The 153-year-old Carnac Bridge is a vital link in south Mumbai that runs over the railway tracks between CSMT and Masjid Bunder station.
While the demolition work on the bridge started in September, the CAG report stated that the proposal for demolishing and reconstructing the bridge was floated in 2014 after IIT Bombay, in one of its reports, had declared it unsafe.
The report said that the work order was awarded to M/S Infrabuild Private Limited in August 2017, for Rs 48.7 crore, which is 18 per cent above the estimated cost. It added that while the deadline for the project was 19 months, when the CAG conducted an audit on April 2022, no demolition work had started.
“Despite the lapse of four-and-a-half years from the date of approval of reconstruction works, demolition was not started. Further, no action was taken to shift residents coming in alignment for new bridge… As demolition of bridge involves removing of utilities, diversion of traffic on alternate roads and other ancillary works, the issue of work order indicates improper planning and foresight from part of BMC,” the report stated. “Since the tender was approved in 2017… the bridge reconstruction contractor needs to be paid price variation without executing any work,” it added.
Meanwhile, the 135-year-old Hancock Bridge was demolished by BMC and Railways in 2016 after it was found unfit in an internal audit. While the original bridge was made of black stone, the new one, made of steel, is located above the rail tracks between Sandhurst Road and Byculla.
The work order for reconstructing the bridge and creation of a slip road (carriageway) was awarded to M/S Sai Projects (Mumbai) Private Limited in February 2018. The deadline for the project was 19 months. Though the work order was issued four years ago, the bridge was only opened for vehicular movement in August, this year.
The CAG report stated that the scope of work, including mapping of utility channels, got delayed by three years. The contractor was supposed to finish the task by September 2019 but it was not done by April 2022. It added that some of the key factors behind this were delay in approval of temporary arrangement drawings and construction of approach and slip road due to non-removal of encroachment. “The work of creating slip road could not be completed within 19 months, which may have resulted in cost escalation. As BMC was required to coordinate between its departments to ascertain the utilities going from underneath the road and to plan shifting of the existing utilities, the same was not seen in the records, indicating poor planning by the BMC, for execution of work,” said the report.
It added that 36 structures were identified as falling in the alignment of work, of which 26 were eligible for compensation. Since the project-affected persons refused to shift, the BMC decided to pay Rs 11.79 crore as compensation. “For the work, M/S TPF Engineering Private Limited was appointed for a fee of Rs 89.92 lakh in February 2018. The initial fees were Rs 61.68 lakh, which was revised due to increase in work.”