BMP moots independent body for road projects

BMP moots independent body for road projects
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has made a bold new proposal to reduce delay and corruption in the implementation of infrastructure works.

In response to growing allegations of corruption and bad workmanship, the civic body has mooted the idea of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that will function independent of the government and the BMP.

Top bureaucrats at the BMP said the SPV could be named Bangalore Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation and formed under the Companies Act. The government could hold equity of Rs 200 crore and the SPV would be free to raise loans from banks to meet the infrastructure demands of the city.

The SPV would be headed preferably by a member of civil society and have 20 members representing stakeholder organisations and CMCs and TMCs around the city.

The present system of taking up infrastructure works has inherent flaws as the project requires sanctions at different levels and the city growth can ill afford the delay, said a top official involved in formulating the proposal.

Apparently, the infrastructure files in the BMP pass through some 15 tables before they are given a final nod. And the higher the number of tables, more the corruption.

In fact, a 40 per cent premium on the cost of works has become the norm at BMP.

While the engineers indulge in bribes blatantly, the political executive contributes more to the delay at the pre-sanction stage.

The works file moved by an executive engineer passes through the superintending engineer to chief engineer to the engineer-in-chief to the commissioner to the standing committee on public works to the BMP council to the government and back to the BMP.

The standing committee takes months to clear the file and place it before the council. The government contributes to the general mess by holding the file for 4-5 months. Without exception, all the major projects are delayed at least by one year even before works begin.

The SPV will have a central tender committee and all work proposals will be handled by this committee. This would eliminate the discretionary element and could bring down the premium to about 15 per cent, said a BMP engineer.

As the SPV would not be answerable to the BMP council nor to the MLAs, it would be more efficient in delivering better infrastructure, an official said.