PMC to reject abnormally low bids for civic works from April 1

PMC will stop accepting abnormally low bids for civic works from the next financial year, a move aimed at ensuring better quality of infrastructure projects in the city

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will stop accepting abnormally low bids for civic works from the next financial year, a move aimed at ensuring better quality of infrastructure projects in the city.

PMC will stop accepting abnormally low bids for civic works from the next financial year, a move aimed at ensuring better quality of infrastructure projects in the city. (HT FILE)

Standing committee chairperson Shrinath Bhimale said on Thursday that tenders quoting rates 30–40% below the estimated cost will no longer be accepted from April 1. “Only bids that are up to 10–15% below the estimate will be considered,” he said.

Bhimale said several contractors submit bids significantly below the estimated project cost to secure civic contracts. “When tenders are quoted 30–40% below the estimated value, there is no guarantee that the quality of the work will be maintained. To address this, such bids will not be accepted in the upcoming fiscal year,” Bhimale said after a standing committee meeting.

He added that many of the tenders currently being approved were issued during the period when the civic body was under an administrator. “Those tenders have been cleared for now, but if any irregularities are found in them, they will be cancelled,” Bhimale said.

The standing committee also discussed the growing issue of unauthorised constructions in the city following a recent demolition drive by the PMC in the Lohegaon and Viman Nagar areas. During the action, several multi-storey illegal structures were razed.

Bhimale said the committee has directed the civic administration to fix responsibility on engineers and officials in whose jurisdiction such illegal constructions come up. Officials have been asked to conduct regular inspections in their respective areas and submit a survey report every 15 days to the standing committee.

Separately, the committee also stayed a ₹35 crore tender floated for a tree census in villages recently merged into the PMC limits. Members said the exercise could be carried out at a much lower cost with the help of the garden department, non-government organisations and private agencies. The stay was also imposed after objections were raised regarding the company that had submitted the tender.