The Times of India              24.05.2013

LMC starts e-tendering for projects

LUCKNOW: To bring transparency in various transactions, Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) successfully launched e-tendering facility on its website on Thursday, encouraging contractors to participate in 99 tenders on a single day.

Officials claim that tenders worth more than Rs 29 crore were applied for on Thursday, which are currently being reviewed. Most of these tenders are for the construction of drains across the city. The e-tendering facility allows a contractor to apply online for a particular tender and the application can be accessed and compared with others by authorities online. Uptil now, e-tendering was being done for civic works whose cost was less than Rs 5 lakh. This is the first time LMC has forayed into e-tendering for projects above Rs 5 lakh. Apart from Lucknow, Agra is the only city where e-tendering for bigger projects is being implemented. tnn

Terming the development as historic for the agency, officials seemed excited. This is also a mandatory reform required by the massive national city-modernisation scheme - Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). With this development, LMC has scored on reform targets set by the JNNURM.

Currently, the tenders are being accessed by the authorities. Officials have claimed that e-tendering would facilitate them in faster implementation of projects as online transactions are more efficient and transparent.