Fresh tenders to cost MCD dear

After contractors abandoned a number of road projects, MCD has been left with no other option but to re-tender them to start fresh work. Neelam Pandey reports.

After contractors abandoned a number of road projects, MCD has been left with no other option but to re-tender them to start fresh work. However, according to sources, re-tendering of these works would result in cost escalation — something that the cash-strapped Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) cannot afford.

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To ensure other contractors don’t leave work midway, the civic body has even resorted to blacklisting a few who had abandoned projects in Karol Bagh and Sadar Paharganj zone. “We have blacklisted some contractors for the time being. Leaving work midway is not the solution. I’ll be writing a letter to the Delhi government to release the funds shortly,” said Yogender Chandolia, chairman. MCD Standing Committee.

The contractors have abandoned work at the Saraswati Marg, Arya Samaj Marg, Ganga Mandir Marg, Tank Road, Deshbandhu Gupta Road, Faiz Road to Anand Parvat Chowk, Link Road, near Old Delhi Railway Station among others.

In addition to this, a lot of colony roads were supposed to be relayed in the City, South, West and Central zones. But this has not yet started. The civic agency has not paid the contractors who carry out most of the civil work in the city for the MCD for the past one and a half year.

“A number of contractors have been constructing new school buildings for the past two years. But it has not been completed because they have slowed down work after not being paid any money,” said a senior MCD official.