Allegations force metropoilitan authority to sit on road tender

On the face of it, the internal road development contract of the Wadala Truck Terminus area is just another road contract.

However, due to a few allegations while handing out tenders, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has been forced to keep the decision on the final tendering on hold for the last three months.

The Wadala truck terminus area is one of the biggest upcoming hubs in the city. With the monorail connecting Wadala with other parts of the city and the construction of an iconic tower in the area, the road development contract was considered to be one of the prime contracts – though the size of the contract was a mere Rs80 crore.

However, controversy started when many road contractors alleged that the authority officials were favouring a few companies while preparing the tender documents of the contract.

Further, the authority short-listed four contractors including one that was already under scanner for submitting bogus documents to other civic agencies.

When contacted, road expert and member of the MMRDA executive committee NV Mirani said that there was no independent evaluation of MMRDA road tenders for a long period.

He alleged that engineers of the authority were not capable of evaluating such big road contracts. “While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finalised that before the tender is awarded, the independent monitoring has to be mandatory. However, in spite of an evaluation committee being in existence, MMRDA does not seem to be serious about independent evaluation. The irony is that the final go ahead for such tenders is given by the executive committee of the authority, which has not had a meeting since past more than nine months,” said Mirani.

MMRDA joint commissioner Ashwini Bhide, who heads the evaluation committee, said that she was not in a position to comment on the development as the particular tender had not reached the committee.