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Park project: Corporation determined to go ahead

Staff Reporter

Officials worried over poor response to tender

KOZHIKODE: : Worried over the lackadaisical response to its tenders, the City Corporation is seeking measures to go ahead with its proposal to renovate the defunct Ansari Park under the Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT) scheme.

Civic authorities, it is learnt, are devising a fresh strategy in the event of no party submitting tenders to develop the Children's Park at Ansari Park in Mananchira Square, at a cost of Rs. 64 lakhs. One of the ideas mooted is to modify the conditions mentioned in the bid document, a senior official at the Corporation office, said.

As of now, only six parties have evinced interest in buying the bid documents from the office since the Corporation invited tenders last month. And that too, after extending the deadline for receipt of applications three times as no tenders had been received. Officials said the last date to submit applications was July 8. The cost of the bid documents is Rs.1,200. Only two parties of the six have actually responded after the last date has been extended.

Mayor Thottathil Raveendran told The Hindu that office-bearers of the Lions Club had expressed willingness to take over the project. The organisation was asked to submit tenders for the purpose, he said. However, after verifying the conditions in the bid document, the Lions Club has expressed a few reservations. "We have decided not to purchase the bid document after reviewing the conditions. The BOT scheme is not suitable to us," said E. Jayakumar, project coordinator of Lions Club of Calicut Metro. Other conditions include paying royalty of Rs.2 lakhs annually to the Corporation for seven years and an escrow coverage for Rs.5 lakhs. The entry fee permitted to be collected by the private party is Rs.3 and for individual rides from Rs.5 to Rs.10. Earlier when the park functioned, the entry fee was Rs.5. The entry would be free for children below 10 years in the new scheme, officials said. "The Lions Club would take over Ansari Park as a service project if no party submitted tenders for its renovation. But we will have to negotiate on the existing conditions after July 8," Mr. Jayakumar said.

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