An endeavour to make roads in the city smarter and aesthetic in appearance with underground multi-utility ducts has become a pain for residents and commuters in Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation limits. The project for developing Smart Roads, initiated by Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited (SCTL) in 2020, has dragged on for three years now, with dug-up streets testing the patience of citizens.
In April, a ministerial-level meeting gave an ultimatum that these roads should be made motorable before May 31 this year. People are apprehensive since the monsoon season would begin in June and unless the works are completed by the end of May, the condition of roads would affect children as the schools would reopen after summer holidays. The pitiable condition of the roads has also been cause for accidents in these stretches.
Speaking to TNM, Saseendhran, who runs a shop in the General Hospital-Vanchiyoor stretch, which is under construction, said residents have been suffering for the past three years. “In 2020, they started digging up the road. But then it stopped during the pandemic. Work used to happen occasionally. The duct construction is now complete and they need to move the cables and electrical lines underground. After that the roads need to be re-laid. We expect it to be completed soon,” he said, adding that the stretch has witnessed multiple accidents.
commuters driving in the uneven Vanchiyoor to General Hospital road
Another resident of the stretch, who wanted to remain anonymous, said that driving a two-wheeler has become extremely difficult because of unevenness and the presence of construction material. “There are huge bumps, especially near the ducts. This has caused a lot of people to fall down and get bruised. The issue was quite bad when the schools were functioning, as there were children riding bicycles and parents who came in two-wheelers to drop them off. We hope the work will be completed before the school reopens this year,” she said.
The SCTL, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), was incorporated by the Kerala state government to implement the Smart City Mission of Government of India in 2017. The SCTL had envisaged two projects - Smart Road (Corporation) and Smart Road (KRFB) - as part of Area Based Development (ABD) plan for improving road and junction infrastructure. KRFB stands for Kerala Road Fund Board, a state government agency involved in funding and project management of road projects.
While the SCTL had a total of 40 Smart Roads under it, KRFB was entrusted with work on 64 roads.
The work on 40 Smart Roads, as part of the project, commenced in 2020. The contractor who won the bid dug up the roads but left the work unfinished citing absence of labourers and the COVID-19 situation. The contract was terminated in 2022 and fresh bids were invited but no one turned up. The works were finally awarded in February 2023 with August as the deadline.
Work is currently underway on 17 roads, directly under the SCTL, and 13 roads under the KRFB. Officials of the SCTL and KRFB say that the work on some of these roads would be completed by August this year.
The delay in road work is attributed to failures of the contractor who won the contract initially, COVID-19 pandemic and issues related to tendering. An SCTL official said the tender to carry out work in 40 roads, initially granted to one contractor, was terminated in October 2022. “Then we re-tendered the project multiple times, but did not get bidders. Then the project was split up and multiple tenders were called for, and bidders were selected in February 2023. These contractors are now carrying out the work on 17 roads, out of which 11 roads will be made motorable by May 31. The road work is expected to be completed by August this year,” the official said.
The KRFB had floated e-tenders for Smart Roads under it multiple times but failed to attract bidders. The roads to be developed by the agency include the Manaveeyam Veedhi and the General Hospital-Vanchiyoor Road, which has been causing inconvenience to commuters for the past three years.
A KFRB official told TNM that the work in 13 roads, including the General Hospital-Vanchiyoor road, has been paused since administrative sanction is required as the contractor who won the bid had quoted a higher amount than permissible. “Once we get approval from the government, the work will be restarted. In case this is not approved, we will do patch work on the road and make it motorable,” the official said.