Fresh tenders for flyover project

By Govind D.Belgaumkar

BANGALORE, AUG. 8. The Board of Directors of the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) today decided to call for fresh tenders to appoint consultants for the proposed construction of 22 flyovers in the City.

Sources in the Government told The Hindu that the decision was taken in view of certain allegations levelled against L & T Ramboll, which was short-listed for the appointment.

With this, the recent flyover scandal in Tamil Nadu, which has cast its shadow on the project, has claimed its first casualty in the form of cancellation of the process of appointment of consultants based on the tenders called for the purpose earlier. The KRDCL had kept in abeyance the process of appointment of consultants following allegations against the company.

It is not clear whether the KRDCL had sought any clarification from the L & T Ramboll before deciding to cancel the process. It was perceived that the corporation would have to seek an explanation from the firm before taking a decision.

Though the L & T Ramboll is a reputed company, the Board decided to call fresh tenders to ensure that there is no controversy over the choice of the consultants.

Mr. N.Raghavan, Chief Executive of the firm, told The Hindu over phone from Chennai that he would comment only after getting full details about the decision of the KRDCL. In fact, he said, it was news to him that such a decision had been taken by the corporation.

Sources said that fresh tenders would be called in a couple of weeks. They agreed that the decision would delay the work on the flyovers. But it was necessary to avoid controversy over the project and choice of consultants.

They said it had been decided to construct as many flyovers as possible with the Rs. 150 crores earmarked for the project. The locations of the flyovers would be decided based on the designs and estimates prepared by the consultants.

The meeting, however, decided to retain Mr. Srinivasan, technical consultant from New Delhi, as the adviser to the KRDCL, though his name had also figured in the Chennai flyover scam. This was because Mr. Srinivasan had a ``high reputation'' and there were no grounds to suspect his bona fide.

Sources said the meeting discussed the progress being made by the task force constituted for evaluating the estimates given by the Construction Industries Development Board, a Malaysian Government agency, on the proposed construction of the 213-km. Mysore- Bantwal Highway. The agency recently scaled down the estimates from Rs. 600 crores to Rs. 350 crores following the reservations expressed by the State Government. The task force was asked to expeditiously complete its work.

The Minister for Public Works, Mr. N.Dharam Singh, who is the Chairman of the KRDCL, chaired the meeting.

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