Bengaluru: BDA paid Rs 40 crore for work not done, finds audit

The Bengaluru Development Authority paid a whopping Rs 40 crore to two construction firms for work they abandoned before completion, an internal audit has found.

The contracts relate to work being done at Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout.

The findings, which expose the BDA’s faulty system of clearing payments, may further slow down the completion of the layout, where about 26,000 sites are currently being developed.

What is striking is that the construction firms, which benefited from the premature release of payments, did not show any interest in completing the much-delayed project, awarded in 2014 with a five-year deadline. It is learnt that the excess payments were made over the last two years.

The findings are part of a report prepared by Alcon Consulting Engineers, a Bengaluru-based firm asked to audit the quality of work at the layout in February last year.

The works in question, estimated to cost over Rs 1,300 crore, were being executed by Ramalingam Construction Company (RCC) and KMC Constructions. So far, the contractors have completed only around 60% of the total work. But the BDA has released payments for unfinished works as well.

BDA engineer member H R Shantharajanna said the authority had issued a notice to the project management consultant (PMC) and the contractors. “Both the audit observations and the explanation will be verified. In case of excess payment, it will be recovered in later bills,” he said.

The BDA has also lost the interest it would have otherwise earned from banks for the huge sum.

Surya Kiran, joint secretary of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout Open Forum, said the latest incident could further slow down the layout’s completion. “Over the last few months, we hardly saw any activity,” he said.

Only three to four earthmovers are being used for site and road formation. However, the work of providing water supply and underground drainage, undertaken by another agency, is going on smoothly, he told DH.