Mumbai: BMC To Appoint Consultants For 5 Years To Oversee Civic Road Works & Surveys In City

Mumbai: With major infrastructure development underway across the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced plans to appoint Project Management Consultants (PMC) for a five-year term to design and monitor civic road works. The consultants will be tasked with overseeing quality control, conducting surveys and mapping utility ducts across Mumbai’s expansive road network.

On Tuesday, the BMC floated a tender inviting applications for appointment of PMCs who will be responsible for all upcoming and ongoing road development projects. The scope includes conducting GIS and GPS surveys, designing pavements, studying utility ducts beneath roads and assessing road quality to ensure adherence to IRC guidelines and contract standards.

Civic officials noted that while consultants had earlier been appointed for two-year durations, the scale of current and future projects demanded a longer engagement. “Now, for all upcoming projects, consultants will be appointed for five years. Their surveys and designs will be incorporated in all future works,” said a senior BMC official, as quoted by the Indian Express.

Consultants will be required to carry out topographic surveys, which include constructing trial pits to examine the crust and subsoil of new roads. This will help determine water tables and assess soil quality through lab testing. They will also conduct traffic volume and axle load surveys to aid in planning new road infrastructure.

According to the report, one of the key components of the new plan is mapping Mumbai’s underground utility network. To avoid repeated excavation of footpaths and carriageways, the PMCs will conduct GPS and GIS-based surveys of all existing underground utilities. They will also plan new utility chambers to support long-term infrastructure stability.

Mumbai's Ambitious Road Concretisation Project

Mumbai has a total road network of 2,050 km, with utility ducts running beneath for essential services. Of this, 1,224 km have already been concretised, while 700 km are undergoing upgrades under the city’s mega concretisation initiative launched in 2022.

As part of the tender conditions, the appointed PMC will have to deploy a team of 27 professionals, including a team leader with a minimum of seven years’ experience in road designing. A team of 23 will handle projects exceeding Rs 300 crore, while 30 personnel will be assigned to monitor works valued below Rs 300 crore. The team will ensure all works conform to contractual specifications through rigorous inspections and assessments.