Karnataka Cabinet okays Rs 613-cr plan to rent 46 sweeping machines for Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to procure 46 mechanical sweeping machines on a rental basis for a period of seven years.

The proposal, submitted by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), is estimated to cost a total of Rs 613.25 crore. This means the authority is expected to spend about Rs 1 crore per year on each sweeper machine.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Law Minister H K Patil said the Cabinet had given administrative approval to the proposal, which will entirely be funded by the five newly created municipal corporations of Bengaluru. He added that the 46 machines would be distributed across all corporations to help keep the roads clean.

Initially, GBA had proposed procuring 59 sweeping machines at a cost of Rs 781 crore on a rental basis. The Urban Development Department (UDD), however, trimmed the number of vehicles to 46, but marginally increased the cost of each vehicle by Rs 10 lakh before presenting the proposal to the Cabinet.

There was a prolonged discussion within GBA — starting in April this year — on whether to opt for outright purchase of sweeper vehicles or hire them.

A technical committee, headed by R Selvamani, managing director of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), was first formed, and two consulting firms were later engaged for further evaluation.

In its report in August, the technical committee favoured outright procurement of the machines and to engage a separate agency for operations and maintenance — a system followed so far. The committee did not approve of the idea of renting the machines.

Subsequently, GBA formed an in-house committee, which sought help from RITES Ltd. and Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

In its recommendations, BCG observed that outright purchase would require a huge capital investment, as each sweeping machine — along with hook loaders and containers — would cost Rs 3 crore.

Instead, it suggested making an upfront payment of 40% to the suppliers, with the remaining cost to be paid based on performance per km. The firm also studied the cost of renting the machines, which turned out to be Rs 50 lakh costlier per vehicle. On Thursday, the Cabinet chose to take the rental route, because purchasing the machines involves ‘huge initial expenditure’. 

Currently, there are about 26 sweeping machines in Bengaluru, but their performance has been poor, with commuters often complaining about dusty roads and the declining air quality index in the city.

While the erstwhile BBMP made multiple efforts to procure new machines, the proposal remained in cold storage due to multiple reasons.