Tender floated again for Margao parking project

MARGAO: Exactly a decade after then chief minister Digambar Kamat-led Congress government had sanctioned Rs 3 crore ‘golden jubilee package’ to Margao Municipal Council (MMC) for creating signature infrastructure and development projects in the town, the fund, which was decided to be used for construction of multi-level parking project in Margao, lies parked in the coffers of its bank.
On Friday, MMC invited fresh tenders for the project, after the last such exercise in December 2018 failed. The successful bidder chose not to accept the work order citing escalation of costs and other myriad issues.
MMC chief officer Agnelo Fernandes said the Rs 3 crore parked in the bank over the last 10 years has accrued an interest of Rs 2.5 crore. After the MMC received the government’s sanction for the remainder of the estimated cost of the project, a fresh tender was floated. While the project was originally estimated to cost Rs 5.5 crore, as per the revised estimates the project, the cost has now been tagged at Rs 6.5 crore.
The project had been trapped in a web of bureaucratic tangles and tendering issues over the last few years. The tenders and re-tenders floated by the MMC had evoked little or no response from contractors over the last several years.
With the revision of Goa Schedule of Rates (GSR) three years ago, the municipality had hoped that the fresh tenders would elicit good response from the contractors, However, though the MMC revised project estimates, the file shuttled between PWD and MMC until the tenure of the council ended and the project got relegated to the back burners.