Excavations Shift Responsibility for 100 km, Rs 300 Crore Pune Roads to Municipal Corporation
Pune, 25th September 2025: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is now bearing the financial responsibility for maintaining and repairing over 100 kilometers of city roads, originally constructed at a cost of Rs 300 crore, after the excavation of these roads for utility works.
In 2023, the PMC’s Roads Department completed road works in packages 1 to 5 across the city, with a five-year Defect Liability Period (DLP) assigned to ensure contractors were responsible for any defects.
According to Anirudh Pawaskar, Head of the Road Department, “As per the tender, if the roads remained undisturbed, contractors would have been liable for five years. However, permission was granted to excavate these roads for municipal water supply, sewerage channels, and cable installations by various departments and private companies, including the State Electricity Corporation, MNGL, BSNL, and OFC.”
After utility work, the roads were patched with temporary surfacing, but subsequent digging damaged these patches. The Roads Department had authorized these excavations, which extended the liability period for contractors. Consequently, contractors are no longer responsible for road repairs, leaving the PMC accountable for maintenance costs.
In a related development, the PMC is spending Rs 20 crore to prepare roads for the upcoming Pune Grand Cycle Competition. “We are inviting tenders for road improvements, and a ten-year defect liability period is likely to be confirmed,” Pawaskar added.
The 100-kilometer road project, completed two years ago, now requires ongoing maintenance due to extensive excavations by various utility agencies. With the contractor liability period exhausted, the Municipal Corporation is fully responsible for repairing and maintaining these critical city roads.
