While the contractors have quoted 24% less than civic estimates in the island city area, contractors in the eastern suburbs have gone as low as 17.1% to 36.36% lower than estimates. In the western suburbs, contractors have gone 36% up to 47% lower than civic estimates. BMC, which has a 'lowest bidder wins' policy, has no choice but to award the contracts to these contractors.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) next week will issue contracts worth a whopping Rs287 crore for de-silting work on the major and minor drains across the city. The drains are cleaned before monsoons so that the rain water gets cleared fast and the city does not get flooded. Surprisingly, though, most of the contractors who got the contracts have quoted prices as low as 36% and even 47% below the civic estimates. Civic sources wonder how any contractor could afford to work at such low rates, and fear that contractors will turn in shoddy work.
While the contractors have quoted 24% less than civic estimates in the island city area, contractors in the eastern suburbs have gone as low as 17.1% to 36.36% lower than estimates. In the western suburbs, contractors have gone 36% up to 47% lower than civic estimates. BMC, which has a 'lowest bidder wins' policy, has no choice but to award the contracts to these contractors.
"Are the civic estimates inflated, then?" asked a senior civic official who added the quality of work may suffer heavily because no contractor will pay from his pocket to ensure quality. "Also he has to pay a certain amount to the political parties and also at different levels of the bureaucracy, which is an open secret. How can one expect quality of work and accountability from the contractors," said an official.
Moreover, the civic administration engages those contractors who are black-listed in the past. "This is the case in all type of contracts. Officials change the tender conditions to suit the needs of the contractors. There is no set of rules or guidelines or any benchmark to award the contracts. The rules and guidelines are tweaked at each level to accommodate the contractors for each contract," said the official.
Laxman Vhatkar, director for engineering services and in-charge of Storm Water Drains department, said that the department queried contractors about their unusually low bids. He said the contractors replied that they own machinery and manpower, so they don't need to pay heavy rents and heavy daily wages. This brings down the cost. "BMC is saving money when the contract is awarded at prices lower than the civic estimates," said Vhatkar.
When dna questioned him about the quality of work in the absence of a third-party audit, the system which was adopted to keep the civic officials and the contractors in check, he said that the civic body forfeits the deposits of errant contractors and also levies heavy fines on the contractor who does a shoddy job. He said the work of contractors is scrutinised by civic officials at various levels.
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