Park maintenance in central Chennai to be outsourced

Starting July, Chennai Corporation will outsource comprehensive maintenance of parks in central Chennai to private contractors.

Tenders invited

The corporation has invited tenders from the contractors for maintenance of parks in Thiru.Vi.Ka Nagar, Ambattur, Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam zones. “This is just the beginning. All the 360 parks in the city, including the recently-added areas, will be covered in the scheme by July end,” said an official.

Under the scheme, one contractor will be responsible for maintenance of the entire range of facilities in a park, including toilets, lawn, greenery, fountain, footpath, benches and light fittings.

Officials will monitor the performance with field visits, a mobile-based application and in consultation with residents. Payments for the contractor will be made on an “outcome basis.”

The contractor will lose money if he fails to do his job well, on time.

Earlier, controversy arose when a corporate house undertook maintenance of the park under the CSR activity, and was charged with closing it off for the public.