THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government proposal to introduce long-term maintenance contract in the Public Works Department (PWD) for executing road works is expected to put an end to the corrupt practices in awarding contracts and squandering public funds in the name of repairs.

A preliminary review of the civil works executed by the department during 2004-05 and 2005-06 is understood to have exposed the chinks in the existing system of awarding works waiving tender proceedings.

A sum of Rs.500 crore is expended every year for road maintenance alone and majority of the works are awarded without floating tenders causing heavy loss to the exchequer.

Department sources said the review had cited serious lapses in almost all the 16 road divisions in the State. Urgency clause and the visits of VVIPs to the State had been cited as the reasons for awarding works in haste. Four works worth Rs.43 crore sanctioned in the Aluva central circle in 2004-05 and a number of others executed under the Idukki and Ernakulam roads sub-division had been cited as a case in point.

Works on the Venduruthy bridge in Kochi for Rs.30 crore, Kunduvakadavu bridge for Rs.9.25 crore, Muttikkal bridge for Rs.2.80 crore and maintenance of Karuvannur-Arattupuzha road in Thrisur district at an estimated cost of Rs.98 lakh were executed by the department without public bidding.

As many as 26 works in Idukki division worth Rs.3.75 crore were executed citing the urgency clause.

In Ernakulam roads sub-division, 222 road works amounting to Rs.6 crore were carried out without floating tenders in 2004-05.

Again in 2005-06, as many as 538 works worth Rs.15 crore had been done in a similar manner.

It has been found that 178 works in 2004-05 and 452 works in 2005-06 were done in the pretext of VVIP visits. Since all these works were awarded invoking the urgency clause, the quality of most of them was understood to be far from satisfactory.

There was no foolproof mechanism to verify and confirm whether all works were done in connection with the visit of the VVIPs and also whether they had been executed too.

Almost all these works had been given to some select contractors and this had been cited as one of the major source for corrupt deals.

In the current financial year, 500 km will be brought under long-term maintenance contract and it will be extended all over the State within the next four years. A lobby comprising bureaucrats, politicians and contractors had already opposed the proposal.

The Government would have to face stiff opposition from the lobby even if the new system was introduced in phases, sources pointed out.

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