CM to ask civic body to reconsider contractor appointment system

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday, said that he will ask the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to reconsider the qualification conditions for contractors filling tenders for civic works.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on Wednesday, said that he will ask the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to reconsider the qualification conditions for contractors filling tenders for civic works.

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Owing to the loopholes in the current system of tendering, errant contractors — who have been fined or demoted for shoddy job in earlier civic projects — keep bagging contracts repeatedly.

In the last major roads tender by the BMC, at least five contractors who bagged the contracts had been fined previously for shoddy roadwork.

“The present conditions do not require the contractors to be registered with the BMC for filling tenders. They can be registered with the government or even with an autonomous institute. This condition has, it seems, created loopholes in the system that need to be studied and changed,” said Chavan replying to an issue raised by NCP legislator Kiran Pawaskar in the legislative council.

Pawaskar had questioned Chavan on a case related to a contract given to RP Shah Infra for construction of 15 foot overbridges, ignoring that it had defaulted on works related to replacing pipelines alongside the Mithi project.

He said, he would still ask the civic body to reconsider the contractor appointment system and eliminate the conditions that lead to misappropriations.