Bid to break monopoly of road mafia: Maharahstra govt tweaks tender norms for public work contracts
Even as a probe continues into allegations of corruption in road contracts awarded in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has quietly tweaked the process for awarding public work contracts in a bid to break the monopoly of a few contractors.
The system of awarding such contracts only to firms licensed with the government has been discontinued. Open tenders will now be floated for all works, Chandrakant Patil, Minister, Public Works, said on Monday.
The government is hoping that the modification, which basically allows all contractors to participate instead of only a pre-determined group, will bring in more transparency in the bidding process.
Allegations of a powerful contractor-official-politician nexus have been rampant in road and building work contracts allotted by the public works department for several decades. After taking over in Maharashtra, the Devendra Fadnavis government has already planned Rs 1.06 lakh crore of public works in the road and building construction sector. Of this, Patil said about Rs 60,000 crore worth contracts had already been allotted. Another Rs 30,000 crore works are being planned on an annuity basis, Patil said.
The multi-crore contracts had been a game for a handful of contractors. “The condition that permitted participation of only firms licensed with the department had been discouraging industry giants from taking up public contracts. An oligopoly of sorts had been created,” said a senior state official. “The tenders will now be open for everyone eligible,” announced Patil.
The revised norms have been applied for road, bridge, building construction, and maintenance contracts allocated by the public works department. The government has also devised a standard bidding document to avoid deviations from the norm. “The fact that most bids are now floated online has already created some transparency. The revised tendering norms will aid the process further,” said another senior official.
Fresh guidelines have been issued regarding steps to be taken by authorities during the pre-bid conference, floating of the bids, shortlisting of the contractors, and awarding of the contracts. The government has mandated its officials to publish the tenders on the government’s web portal.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had run an election campaign for the Mumbai civic poll where he had promised more transparency in road and public contracts.
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