Corporation to call for fresh tender to privatise conservancy operations

CHENNAI: The tenders saga for the privatisation of conservancy operations in eight corporation zones continues, with the Chennai Corporation rejecting all bids on Monday. Fresh tenders are expected to be called in the beginning of the new year. A senior official, who took part in the bid ratification meeting after the deadline for bid submissions ended at 3 pm, told Express that none of the five bidders were able to submit the earnest money deposit. “Due to various reasons such as bank strikes, companies were not able to mobilise funds required to be considered for the project,” said the senior official

One of the bidders, a Pune-based company, submitted the EMD in person just before the bid deadline but it is learnt that officials from the corporation did not consider it. “The EMD has to be submitted online and cannot be accepted in person, “ the official said. 

The Chennai Corporation opened bids for privatisation of eight zones in two packages on August 20. However, with stakeholders asking for more time to perform cost analysis for the project, the deadline was extended after a meeting with stakeholders on September 26. 

Following protests from conservancy workers on October 11, fearing that privatisation would result in job cuts, the Corporation suspended the tender on October 12. A fresh tender was called for on November 24. Sources in the solid waste management department said that the stringent parameter based payment model which will debut in this project has also deterred companies from putting their ring in the hat.