The BMC cancelled a road concretisation tender worth Rs 5,800 crore on November 1. This is not the only tender to get cancelled, with the civic body also cancelling the construction of an aquarium at Byculla zoo, improvement at the Deonar Abatoire, tunnel construction for the Goregaon Mulund Link Road, a laundry to wash clothes from hospitals and setting up of virtual classrooms in civic-run schools.
On this, ex-BJP Corporator and standing committee member Vinod Mishra said “The quality of work should be maintained by the administration. It seems the administration has not learned anything from past experience. I would say there is still a nexus between contractors and BMC officers for the construction and repair of roads. It is true cancellation of tenders will slow down the pace of civic work but if it is done for betterment and to stop corruption then it should be done. However, new tenders should be invited immediately so delays can be avoided.”
Dhaval Shah, chairman of Lokhandwala & Oshiwara Citizens Association, said, “The BMC should do tendering of work on a war footing. They should curtail the time of drafting and issuance of tenders.”
Congress corporator Ravi Raja and group leader in BMC said, “Cancellation of tenders affects the pace of development. But sometimes it feels these tenders are invited for favourable contractors. If feel contractors are running the BMC. Planning is the biggest problem of the BMC; they don't plan properly. The civic body has not completed even half of the road construction work of the Rs2200 crore tenders which they had floated in November 2021.”
