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Separate agencies to be deployed to desilt rajakaluves

BBMP has estimated the annual maintenance contract (AMC) for maintaining the 573-kilometre rajakaluves to cost Rs 47.39 crore
Last Updated 05 July 2022, 22:00 IST
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The BBMP will deploy different agencies to maintain the 573-kilometre-long stormwater drains (SWDs) or rajakaluves.

Meant to stop flooding of low-lying areas, the project has been split into 30 packages, an indication that the MLAs had their way in ensuring direct supervision of the works.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has estimated the annual maintenance contract (AMC) for maintaining the 573-kilometre rajakaluves to cost Rs 47.39 crore. The corporation has floated a three-year tender, taking the total expenditure to Rs 142.18 crore. The work has been divided according to the assembly constituencies.

As per the contract, the successful bidder is expected to provide one wheel-mounted hydraulic excavator, four hydraulic excavators (chain-mounted, long boom or robotic), two tippers and two tractors. Each firm can participate only in one of the 32 packages.

Some of the works mentioned in the contract are de-silting of drains and transporting them to approved locations such as Mittaganahalli and Anjanapura, clearing vegetation and solid waste material, preventing dumping of construction debris, and identifying blockages, among others.

The bidder is expected to desilt and clean the entire stretch of the drain on a quarterly basis (four rounds of cleaning every year). The payment is linked to cleaning the drain on a kilometre basis as against the physical measurements on site.

Officials said the contract will ensure a day-to-day maintenance of drains, besides preventing choking of drains in narrow and critical junctions.

In 2017-18, the BBMP introduced the annual maintenance contract of SWD but the work to maintain the entire 450 km of rajakaluve was awarded to a single contractor.

The project later ran into controversy as officials changed the payment structure from quantitative analysis to qualitative analysis. This meant the contractor received payments without taking count of the quantity of silt or garbage removed from the drain. The civic body has continued with this structure even in the fresh tenders against the transparency rules.

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(Published 05 July 2022, 19:27 IST)

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