KOCHI: The Kochi Corporation authorities have re-iterated that the issue related to the bad roads will be solved soon. The civic body is pinning its hopes on the Public Works Department which had already agreed to undertake the immediate renovation of 13 major roads in the city that are in a dilapidated condition.“As per the instruction given by the state government, we have already handed over the list of roads that need urgent repair to the PWD. The officials had informed us that the work will be started soon after the end of the monsoon,” said Kochi Corporation Works Standing Committee chairperson Soumini Jain. “The major reason for the delay in repairing the roads was the heavy showers that the city is witnessing for the last two months. The strike by the Corporation contractors also added to the delay,” Soumini added.However, with the contractors calling off the strike last week, the chances have brightened for the repair works to begin. The decision to hand over the roads to the PWD was taken by the Council after the civic body found out that some of the roads for which the Corporation directly awarded the tender got damaged soon after the renovation.The Corporation council also discussed the options to award the road works to the contractors on a five-year guarantee basis.There are complaints that the specifications used for road work are not sufficient enough to meet the high density of vehicular movement.The council has also requested the state government to consider the option of at least doing the major road works on a five-year guarantee basis.Recently, the civic body had spent Rs 4 crore for the maintenance of the arterial roads and another Rs 18 crore, sanctioned in the last Council meet to repair some major roads.But a majority of these roads have already been damaged.Soumini said that the roads would be renovated as per the specifications given by the PWD. “As per the PWD specifications, the contractor will be bound to give a minimum one-year guarantee for the work,” she added.
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