Urban News

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) justified the the budgetary increase by stating that 26 new stretches have been added to the list of roads in the second phase, where streetlights are to be upgraded for the upcoming event. The initial contract, dated June 2009 and budgeted at Rs 60 crore for covering 157 km, has now been revised to Rs 72 crore.

The roads added to the list — including Hauz Khas Village Main Road, Savitri Cinema Road, Shaheed Surya Sen Marg, BC Pal Marg, Lotus Temple Marg, Veer Savarkar Marg and Shiv Mandir Marg — lead to the Games venues, training venues, hospitals, historical locations, hotels and tourist areas. The expenditure for upgrade of streetlights on nine of these 26 roads would be charged under the Commonwealth Games head.

When asked to comment on the reason behind revising the budget without issuing fresh tenders, MCD Engineering department officials said it was done due to the inclusion of new street-scaped road stretches for the Games. “If a fresh tender was invited, there was the possibility of receiving higher rates as well as taking more time. So, finally, a view was taken that since the rates in the present contract were reasonable and the contractor had agreed to carry out the work at prevailing rates in the present contract itself, the existing contract could be revised,” said Subhash Arya, leader of MCD house. 

Incidentally, MCD’s proposal document for the revision of existing contract states that “as per the direction given by the Delhi government, the work on street-scaping and streetlights was required to be completed as early as possible and latest by mid-July as they are related to the Games”.

Even as the corporation claims that its second phase of upgrade of streetlights is nearing completion, it seems to have nothing to say on the third phase of the project — which, according to many, will not be ready in time for the Games.

As part of the last phase, the MCD was required to install new upgraded streetlights along 704 km of the road. However, when asked to comment in this regard, it claimed that it has “not received Rs 200 crore for the project from the Delhi government so far.”

As per its records, MCD has been able to complete only 82 per cent of the work related to the upgrade of streetlights for the Games. 

Less than a month after the Organising Committee directed the MCD to “beautify Delhi into a Sports City” by “sprucing up entry points to the city, installing gates and putting up Games logos and banners in various areas”, the Corporation has expressed its inability to construct the gates ,claiming that it has no funds.

Mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney has now claimed that while the MCD received around Rs 1,373 crore from the state for many other Games projects, the MCD has not got funds specifically earmarked for the gates.

The ‘border gates’ were to come up at the G T Road Shahdara (Apsara Border), Ghazipur, Kalindi Kunj, Badarpur, Aya Nagar, Rajokri and Kapashera. The MCD was to “modernise and beautify these entry points” and then erect the gates.

“The entry points are the first impression for tourists and others coming to the National Capital Territory. Generally, these points are given the least importance, being at the periphery, and thus these present a very shabby picture. It is therefore proposed to beautify the area around the entry points so as to create proper infrastructure in time for the Games,” an official said.

According to officials, while MCD’s plan has hit a roadblock, the Public Works Department — which already has plans to beautify the five entry points under its jurisdiction including the National Highway-1 and Singhu border — is likely to install these Gates. Earlier, the PWD also wanted to construct a memorial on Delhi history near NH-1. The same, however, will not be done before the Games.