Although the city corporation has engineers on its payroll to supervise work and ensure good-quality result, it still relies on private consultancy firms to do the task.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken up the work of widening Suranjandas Road, which connects Old Madras Road and Old Airport Road to Kuvempu Circle. The work to widen the 3.8km stretch will start on Monday and it will cost Rs14.74 crore.
To supervise the work, the BBMP invited tenders on February 2 this year, asking private consultancies to bid for the job of supervising the work, project maintenance and quality check. Never mind that the Palike has engineers exactly for this purpose. A BBMP source said that the Palike would have to pay about `25 lakh to the consultancy firm towards its service. He said this cost would be a burden on the utility, which is already facing shortage of funds. He said if the BBMP does not trust its engineers, it can entrust the work to an engineering college; this would save money.
The source said the job of a BBMP engineer is to supervise the work done by the contractor; by outsourcing that task, the engineer becomes redundant. The source added that the BBMP even has its own quality-check lab in the head office.
“By outsourcing the work, the BBMP doubts its own engineers and laboratories’ performance,” he said.
Further, the source alleged that where private firms come into play for such meagre jobs, it is some corporator or MLA that benefits in the form of commission from the company that gets the contract.
The BBMP commissioner MK Shankarlinge Gowda denied the allegations. He said it is only for small work that private consultancy is not required. He added that for major work, third-party inspection is a must and that is where the private consultancy firms come into play.
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