A key part of the Smart City project looks set to be delayed by another two months due to lack of coordination among the civic authorities of the city.
In a setback to the municipal corporation, the UT administration has raised objections on the public bicycle sharing system, for which the MC has already invited bids through a request for proposal (RFP) and two companies made submissions last month.
The plan entails is to have 5,000 bicycles spread across 600 points for free riding.
While the MC had sought proposals in September, in a recent meeting of the special project vehicle (SPV), Chandigarh Smart City Limited, UT adviser Parimal Rai, who is its chairman, constituted a committee comprising its CEO Jatinder Yadav, UT chief engineer Mukesh Anand and MC chief engineer NP Sharma to finalise terms and conditions.
Anand told Hindustan Times that there were “some issues” with the terms of the RFP — such as size of the sharing stations to be approved by the UT chief architect, and the duration of the award of project.
The MC has sought bids for an 11-year period, clause 3 of the Advertisement Control Order says such a project could only be allowed for five years, he further said.
MC additional commissioner Anil Garg, who is nodal officer for the Smart City project, confirmed that the committee has been constituted and “will take the final decision on terms and conditions”.
Another senior officer of the SPV said on the condition of anonymity, “Now the project is again delayed by two months as we have invited fresh RFP.”