Road work: BMP gives contractors a last chance

Road work: BMP gives contractors a last chance

The Hindu

May award contracts to large companies

# Tendering process started in July last year
# Re-tenders invited for the ninth time on January 10
# Tenders called for 105 packages of road upgradation work worth Rs. 160 crores
# Permission to be sought to exempt road works from the Karnataka Transparency Act

BANGALORE: Fed up with the "cold response" from asphalt contractors towards the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike's (BMP) road upgradation projects, the civic body is now planning to award road works to multinational companies in larger packages.

Top officials in the BMP are working on the modalities of awarding road works in bigger packages to companies such as Larsen and Toubro, Gammon India, East Coast Construction Company of India and Simplex, which have already executed flyover projects in the city.

"This will definitely happen if the re-tenders invited for the ninth time on January 10 do not receive proper response from the contractors," highly-placed sources in the BMP told The Hindu on Sunday.

This decision also comes in the wake of Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh's statement at a public function on Saturday that "some vested interests in the BMP are blocking road development projects in the city."

"The January 10 re-tenders for 105 packages of road upgradation work estimated at over Rs. 160 crores under the special road development project, will be the last to be invited. If we do not receive proper response by February 3, which is the last date, we will invite these companies to take up the work," the sources said.

A top official in the engineering wing pointed out that the tendering process started in July last year.

"Because there was no response from the contractors, we called tenders eight times. We will seek the Government's permission to exempt the road works from the Karnataka Transparency Act and enable us to take up the work without calling tenders," the official said.

Cost increase

As it is obvious that the large will not be ready to execute small works, the authorities are also "seriously thinking" of increasing the cost of each package. "Now the cost of each package varies between Rs. 20 lakhs and Rs. 5 crores. It will be increased to at least Rs. 50 crores.

This will also bring down the number of packages and help in better monitoring," the sources said.

All road upgradation plans announced by the civic body in the last few months have been "non-starters" as asphalt contractors are reluctant to take up the works following the recommendations of Lokayukta N. Venkatachala after his inspection of the quality of road works.

Demanding relaxation of certain "stringent" tender conditions, the contractors argued that it is difficult to achieve the specifications and standards pointed out by the experts in the report at the cost agreed upon by the BMP.

"The rates stipulated are two years old," they said.

To resolve the issue, the BMP set up a "project management group" comprising Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam, Additional Commissioner (Finance) P.K. Srihari and others.

"These officials have tried to convince the contractors to adhere to the norms as they are the ones followed even in the Public Works Department. While we are getting ready for the next step, we will wait till February 3," the sources added.