The Pioneer 21.09.2010
‘Tender’ glitch leaves civic centre unoccupiedParvaiz Sultan | New Delhi
The new state-of-the-art headquarters of world’s second largest civic body — the Municipal Corporation of Delhi — at Jawaharlal Nehru Marg is still awaiting occupants. The Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civic Centre, the tallest structure in the Capital, constructed at a whopping cost of `650 crore, has been lying vacant in the absence of facility management service even after five months of inauguration. As the agency failed to appoint a suitable company to look after the maintenance of the installed equipment and housekeeping services of the building, shifting of its various departments to newly-constructed building will not be possible before the New Year.
A senior MCD official told The Pioneer that after detecting a slew of technical anomalies in the tender process initiated in May, the civic body has quashed it and issued a fresh advertisement inviting tender for the purpose. He further added that now it will take another three months to appoint a company for the purpose, which will certainly delay the shifting. The building was unveiled by Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani in April. At that time, it was announced that the corporation will shift its all departments within a month, by the end of May.
“It was noticed that there were a few hitches in the tender during pre-bid discussions, which was modified then. But after making certain changes, it was decided to recall the tender to avoid legal hassles. Because, one might say that with new or modified terms and conditions, the firm-in-question could have participated in the tender process later too. After reviewing the pro and cons of the changes, it was resolved to go for a fresh tendering procedure,” said he. The MCD official also refuted speculations that the agency received poor response for the bid.
He also admitted that this will delay the proposed shifting of various departments and offices to the civic centre.
“In total, 11 companies participated in the tender and the list includes big names of the country. For the very first time, such arrangements are being made by any Government agency and that too for a Government building. Therefore these initial hurdles are bound to come our way but once the process is over, everything will be in place,” he said.
About the changes made in the freshly-issued tender advertisement, he said earlier it was decided to entrust the responsibility to a successful bidder for a year but the period has been extended to three years. “The period has been increased up to three years instead of a year. The decision was taken after deliberation at appropriate level. Because the equipment and machinery etc installed on the premises are new and under normal conditions, they may not need some repair or refurbishment before a period of one year. The actual work will start only after 12 to 15 months, if it will be needed. Therefore, it was decided to grant the work to a company for three years,” he added.
