With the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) mooting the Swiss Challenge method to clean up BMC's rotten tendering system, the Congress has now come out with 'model' tender conditions.
With the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) mooting the Swiss Challenge method to clean up BMC's rotten tendering system, the Congress has now come out with 'model' tender conditions.
The Congress has written to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta alleging that there was a nexus between road contractors and BMC officials. The Congress wants Mehta to tweak tender terms so that the cartel of BMC's existing contractors breaks.
"The same 6-7 contractors have bagged contracts worth Rs5,000 crore in the last few years. These contractors have formed cartels and they dictate tender conditions to the BMC. The entire roads department is involved. We will soon present a model tender to the BMC chief," said Congress legislator Aslam Shaikh in his letter to Mehta. The BMC's roads department is headed by chief engineer Ashok Pawar.
Shaikh has been batting for cleaner civic tenders since last year. According to Shaikh, the BMC should follow the guidelines laid down by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) while floating tenders.
"Conditions like owning cement plans must be removed. The BMC must not club tenders but instead float smaller tenders so that there is fair play. Joint venture clauses must be changed too. There are more than 150 registered contractors but all contracts are bagged by the same cartel of 6-8 contractors," Shaikh pointed out.
dna had last week reported that Mehta had cracked down on contractors by cleaning up BMC's skewed tender conditions in road contracts. Mehta has modified several tender conditions, which will bring in transparency and let more players take part in the bidding process. Some conditions like compulsion of having Ready Mix Cement (RMC) and asphalt plants within the city and bizarre joint venture clauses have been modified.
Firms like RPS Infraprojects, KR Construction, Jay Kumar, Relcon Infraprojects, RK Madhani and Mahavir Infrastructure among others, bag BMC contracts every year.
"BMC must ensure that world-class companies bid for civic contracts. The contractors are looting the BMC with the help of BMC officials. The BMC must first improve their estimates and call for third party estimates. The roads department is run by contractors," Shaikh added.
Ever since he took over as BMC chief, Mehta has been batting for a fair and transparent tendering system which will deliver good quality work.
Batting for cleaner contracts, the MNS's Sandeep Deshpande had demanded that the BMC introduce the Swiss Challenge method at least for road contracts, which are the worst-affected by shoddy work and tainted contractors.
BMC's old contractors
RPS Infraprojects, KR Construction, Jay Kumar, Relcon Infraprojects, RK Madhani and Mahavir Infrastructure, Bitcon India.
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 "Congress has a 'model tender' to clean up road contracts")
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