No contractors for infrastructure work?

No contractors for infrastructure work?

In what is on face value a bid to “showcase” infrastructure projects on hand and the “business opportunities”, a cross-section of the civic agencies in Bangalore will hold a day-long interaction with some major contractors on Saturday.

Well-placed officials said that the meeting arranged by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) is a part of the efforts to address the dearth of quality contractors for some major infrastructure projects.

There are instances where civic agencies like the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike failed to compete for the tender process; either there was no response for the tenders or the tender negotiation committee and the contractors could not arrive at a consensus, they said.

While the KUIDFC is looking at a host of projects like drinking water supply projects in North Karnataka and work related to coastal env i ronment management, officials concerned with projects specific to Jawaharlal Nehru - National Urban Renewal Mi s s i o n ( JN-NURM) s a i d that BWSSB’s underground drainage works in Bangalore and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s (KUWSSB) works in Mysore suffered awhile due to lack of reputed players.

The situation is not Bangalore or Mysore-specific, JN-NURM cities across the country are facing s i m i l a r problems; i t s Cent r a l Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) is apprised of the issue, said an official.

“There is a lot of work happening and we need good contractors who can delive r high quality work, on time. There are only so many of them to execute them - all at the same time,” he said.

A BWSSB official said that a recent revision in the schedule of rates has eased the situation to some extent. “Cont ractors are more forthcoming now,” he said.

A senior BBMP official said that there are some constraint s in sticking strictly by the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement s Act (KTPP Act ) but declined to elaborate further. BBMP, BWSSB, BMTC, Karnatak a Slum Clearance Board and also the BMRCL are expected to participate in the meeting on Saturday.