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Tamil Nadu
Lack of experienced contractors; those in fray have formed a cartel In the first phase, all district headquarter towns are to be covered CHENNAI: Underground sewerage schemes for cities across the State are being held up for want of experienced contractors and because those in the fray have formed a cartel, say officials and elected representatives. The government had announced that the scheme would be implemented in all municipalities. In the first phase, all district headquarter towns were to be covered, according to 2008-09 budget proposals. Early this financial year, the works were completed in four district headquarter towns and they were in progress in 24 towns at a cost of Rs.1362 crore. “The situation is alarming. These are all time-bound schemes being implemented with funding with outside agencies. The scheme in most towns is nowhere near completion,” said a senior official. The schemes have to be implemented within the time frame mutually agreed upon by the government and the lending agency (World Bank, Asian Development Bank), and should not vastly exceed the schedule of rates fixed by the Public Works Department. The other handicap is that bidders from abroad are unwilling to participate in what they see as small-amount tenders. Existing rules do not provide for combining the works so as to make them attractive to international bidders. Alandur Municipal Chairman R.S.Bharati, who is also the chairman of the council of municipal chairpersons, the apex body of elected heads of municipalities, said the cartel formed among the few contractors who have the expertise was playing havoc with the government’s schedule. “There are any number of examples. No contactor is willing to quote anywhere near the rate we think of. It’s a minimum of 30 per cent mark-up,” he alleged. There is no provision to grant this kind of escalation. Hence, the local bodies are forced to go in for additional advertisements. “In the case of Avadi, the initial quote is over 70 per cent of the accepted rate. Re-tendering has not made any difference,” he said. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, who interact with the contractors regularly, say there is too much work and too few contractors around. “No doubt there is a cartel at work,” said an official. “But, the fact is that there are fewer than 10 contractors in the country and they have too much work.” Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin, who came to know about the delay after he returned from London, has directed officials to suggest ways to overcome the situation. The suggestions are expected to be made available to him early next week.
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