Congress: Metro Bhavan tender rules changed to favour one bidder

During a press conference at the party office, Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the MMRDA in May issued a corrigendum to the bidding process. He alleged the changes were made at the behest of the ruling party to favour a south Indian firm.

The Congress on Monday alleged that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) violated norms set by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) during the bidding process for Metro Bhavan, being constructed at Aarey Colony. The authority tweaked the rules in the tender procedure to favour a certain company and safeguard political interest, the Congress said.

The tender procedure followed the Central government’s general finance rules and CVC guidelines, MMRDA said. (File photo)

Refuting the allegations, the MMRDA said that it is a global tender and the procedure is completely open and transparent. The tender procedure followed the Central government’s general finance rules and CVC guidelines, MMRDA said.

During a press conference at the party office, Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant said the MMRDA in May issued a corrigendum to the bidding process. He alleged the changes were made at the behest of the ruling party to favour a south Indian firm that had helped the central government with a key housing project.

“The CVC guidelines encourage more and more companies to participate but the corrigendum issued by MMRDA had made the specifications stricter. More than 14 specifications were changed in the corrigendum, violating CVC norms. The question that arises here is why it did not go for re-issuance of tenders, despite making so many changes,” he said

“The condition of the net worth and working capital was changed to ₹60 crore for last five consecutive years from ₹61 crore in the past financial year. The condition of the earnest money deposit was raised to ₹9.13 crore from ₹5 crore, while the eligibility of the turnover was changed to ₹250 crore from ₹244 crore. The changes in such important specifications raise many doubts,” he said.

Dilip Kawathkar, joint projects director, MMRDA, said, “The experience criteria of 100m tower is to ensure that only competent and experienced contractors get the job, as Metro Bhavan will be built at a height of more than 129 metres. The operations control centre (OCC) is one of the biggest in the country, having more than 15 subsystems of electrical signalling communication train controls. Therefore, an experience of similar OCC is included in the tender eligibility. It’s a complex job to integrate and interface all the subsystems,” he said. “The clauses related to the annual turnover, net worth and liquidity are strictly as per CVC guidelines and so is the revision in cost of tender.”