The Hindu : Road works: Novel are the ways of contractors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Road works: Novel are the ways of contractors

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI DEC. 16 . The showdown between belligerent thugs and a section of contractors at Ripon Buildings on Friday, last date for filing of applications for road works to the tune of Rs. 2.5 crores in zone VI, has again thrown up the issue of kickbacks and political favours in basic civic infrastructure works.

After receiving four written complaints, the civic officials extended the last date for submission of contracts to December 18. Today, the Corporation Commissioner, M. Kalaivanan, dismissed such "incidents" as hurdles the civic agency needed to overcome. The Corporation would ensure a safe and transparent tender processing system so that the taxpayer's money was properly accounted for, he said.

But contractors are not swayed by such statements. At least for a section of those contractors, which does not have `political support', the writing is on the wall — it will have to accept the very system it developed over the years with the connivance of officials and elected representatives.

One of the contractors, who has been pursuing tenders for the last 10 years, said they were just getting a taste of their own medicine.

For several years now, the contractors adopted two methods to acquire contracts against the `legal' competitive bidding model.

First, the `direct compromise' model. To start off, the prospective bidder acquires the list of all those who bought tender applications. "Then the contractor would strike a compromise with one of the bidders to get him to withdraw from the race. The other bidders agree upon the same amount and it is settled. The successful contractor then places his bid lower than the others," said one of the contractors, on condition of anonymity.

Second, the `open bidding' model. There is an open bidding among those who purchased the tender schedules. This took place usually at the zonal offices, where the tender documents used to be submitted earlier. The bidder with the highest percentage would take the contract. The percentage quoted is equally distributed among the `unsuccessful' bidders.

The problem now is a third model that some of the contractors have come up with. Instead of the previous models in which the money is shared among contractors, the prospective bidder decided to approach the local politician for support. Even in these two models, the politicians got their `cut'. But now, the percentage gets higher with the elimination of the contractors to share the spoils.

Once bitten, some of the contractors now acknowledge that at least 10-15 per cent of any work is lost even in the process of getting it. The compromise is reflected in the quality of work, be it roads or buildings. "Usually the roads are not laid to the thickness as per specifications, and the width is reduced. In the case of buildings, the scope for saving money is more. We sometimes use lime to paint the wall and mark it distemper. Only, we have very few options to sustain ourselves after all the kickbacks".

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