A week after Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Ltd (SCTL) repackaged the works on Smart Roads in the corporation limits and issued a new tender, Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB), the executing agency of the major share of the smart roads under the smart city project, has also issued new tenders for the works.
KRFB had earlier awarded works as a whole package to a contractor in 2020. Both KRFB and the corporation faced criticism from various corners owing to the slow pace of the project. Eventually, SCTL had terminated the contract with the firm and KRFB also followed suit. KRFB recently sought SCTL’s assistance to provide consultancy to repackage and retender the smart road projects.
As per the new tender, KRFB has issued the notification for PWD roads under phase 4B, and this has been included in package 1. The probable amount of the contract has been fixed at Rs 29.99 crore and the time schedule to complete the work is six months. It is highly unlikely that it would be completed by June 2023; when the deadline of smart city projects ends.
The technical bid will be opened on December 17 and it will take at least a week to finalise the contract; leaving the firm with just around five months before the end of the deadline.
The work’s scope as per the bid document includes developing the existing roads by upgradation and augmentation of utility trenching and ducting works, revamp of footpaths, junction improvements, providing road markings and road signage, street furniture, street landscaping works, construction of new drains and restoration of existing drains, foundation for street light poles and feeder pillars as per site requirements.
Provision of a traffic management plan for uninterrupted vehicle movement during the implementation of smart road development activities, provision of street-vending spaces, demarcation of parking spaces for vehicles, planning and implementation of place-making at junctions and footpaths, maintenance of roads and keeping them motorable and rehabilitation of drains are some of the other conditions included in the scope of the work.
A week ago, KRFB issued a tender for Rs 123 crore for Smart Road works under phase 3 but it was later cancelled. It has been assessed that awarding and executing works in small packages is the way ahead for Smart Roads works.
