‘Scrap market development project’

July 12, 2013 11:54 am | Updated November 16, 2021 08:58 pm IST - Bangalore

The Malleswaram market development project that has been taken up by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), is in violation of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act, B.M. Shivakumar, president of the Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike, has alleged.

He told presspersons here on Thursday that the BDA did not have the financial wherewithal to take up the project. Claiming that the BDA only had Rs. 566.78 crore in its accounts, he alleged that the authority was still not able to provide basic infrastructure in the layouts it had developed years ago.

He said the BDA would have to pay the contractor Rs. 18 crore a year for six years to repay the cost of construction of the complex. The interest rate is as high as 14 per cent. “The BDA, which owned around 20 commercial complexes across the city, had failed to recover Rs. 15.5 crore in rent from the lessees. It will not be able to pay Rs. 18 crore to the contractor and will default in payment. This is a ploy to ensure that the land in a prime locality goes into the hands of private contractors,” he alleged.

Mr. Shivakumar also alleged the engineer overseeing the project had opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme and asked to be relieved on February 28, 2013. “Later, he sought an extension till May 31, 2013. How could the BDA authorities have allowed this,” he asked.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.