Mumbai: CAG questions BMC over 405% rise in cost of road project in 8 yrs
The CAG has questioned Mumbai's civic body over a sharp increase in the construction coast of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) from ₹252 crore in 2011 to ₹1,274 crore in 2018
A road project in Mumbai has come under Comptroller and Auditor General of India's (CAG) scrutiny because of its overpriced construction cost. According to a report by the Hindustan Times, Livemint's sister publication, the CAG has questioned Mumbai's civic body over a sharp increase in the construction coast of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP) from ₹252 crore in 2011 to ₹1,274 crore in 2018--a 405% rise.
The auditing body has also raised questions over separate spends amounting to ₹200 crore in an inspection report between April 2016 and March 2020.
In 2010, a 35-km coastal road was planned between Nariman Point in south Mumbai and Kandivli for smoother traffic movement. However, for the next eight years, the project never took off. In 2018, the BMC began the construction of the first phase between Princess Street Flyover near Marine Drive and Worli which will take motorists up to Versova in suburban Mumbai via the Worli-Bandra sea link. Though construction began in October 2018, expenses piled up. Therefore, the CAG scrutinised the BMC's coastal road department’s expenditure between April 2016 and March 2020 and raised questions.
The public expenditure auditing body pointed out that the Coastal Road cost ₹252 crore per km in 2011, ₹304 crore in 2016, ₹686 crore in 2018 and finally went up to ₹1,274 per kilometre, the daily added.
The BMC has submitted the justification for which the progress is awaited.
The CAg report also questioned ₹200 crore financial dealings ranging from "fine collection, non-recovery of penalties, loss of income from interest, excess/undue payment made to contractors and consultants".
For instance, the CAG asked about the ₹142 crore payment to contractors between July 2019 and December 2019 despite being a stay by the Bombay High Court.
CAG stated that "It is seen that the work was totally stopped during July 16, 2019, to January 01, 2020, and was again commenced on January 2, 2020. Thus, the contractor is not entitled for any payment for this period as work was stopped. However, scrutiny of bills paid to the contractor revealed the payments of ₹73.92 crore + ₹68.27 crore made which includes the payment for the period 16th July 2019 to 1st January 2020".
A total of eight queries were raised by the CAG and the civic body has replied to some of the queries. At present, the BMC has completed over 40% of the civil works for the over ₹12,000 crore project.