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Hit by losses, Mohali MC calls advertisement tenders for fifth time
After four failed attempts to draw bidders for the ₹ 31-crore advertisement tender in the past one year, MC in its fifth attempt has now divided the city in four zones and has invited separate tenders for each zone
Two weeks ago, MC House had resolved to seek a vigilance inquiry into the civic body’s failure to allot tenders, causing losses
Over two weeks after the Mohali municipal corporation House passed a resolution to seek a vigilance probe into the civic body’s “failure” to allot the advertisement tender, leading to revenue loss, it has now invited fresh tenders.
After four failed attempts to draw bidders for the ₹31-crore advertisement tender in financial year 2023-24, MC in its fifth attempt has divided the city into four zones with separate smaller tenders, with hopes of finding contractors in the 2024-25 fiscal.
During the budget meeting held on March 1, the MC House had approved the agenda to seek a vigilance inquiry into the civic body’s “failure” to allot the advertisement tender.
The nod came after councillors demanded to know how the civic body failed to achieve its proposed income of ₹31 crore in 2023-24 through advertisement tender, earning just ₹6.11 crore, despite advertisement hoardings being allotted across the city.
Talking about the status of the vigilance probe, mayor Amarjit Singh Sidhu said, “After the House passed the resolution, it was sent to the Punjab local bodies department. The head office will now write to the vigilance department for the probe. Since we failed to get bidders for a single tender of ₹31 crore earlier, four zone-wise tenders have been invited now.”
For Zone 1, which comprises Sectors 54, 55, 56, 56-A, 57, 58, 72 and 73, MC has set a tender amount of ₹5.72 crore, while for Zone 2, including Sectors 51, 52, 53, 60, 61, 61, 69, 70 and 71, and Mataur village, the tender amount is ₹12.62 crore.
Having a tender price of ₹7.49 crore, Sectors 48, 49, 50, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68 will fall under Zone 3; and Sectors 74 to 80 and Sohana under Zone 4, with proposed tender fee of ₹5.17 crore.
A senior MC officer said the tenders were floated before the model of code of conduct was enforced on Saturday, so its progress will not be impacted.
Another official said the tenders could not be allotted through the year due to the nexus of available players in the business. “All bidders jointly decided not to make any bid so as to force the state government to slash the tender price. There were 185 sites in the city till 2018, but after GMADA handed over Sectors 76 to 80 to MC, we conducted a detailed survey and added 154 new advertisement sites in March last year to increase income,” the officer added.
MC commissioner Navjot Kaur said MC floated advertisement tender four times, but did not get any bidders. “Now with the division of the city into four zones, setting respective reserve prices to allow bidders to apply separately, MC is likely to generate the expected revenue,” Kaur said.
