Corporation to hire experts to oversee projects

It has allocated Rs. 60 lakh for the purpose

The Coimbatore Corporation will soon hire on contract experts in various fields. According to sources, the decision to engage the experts for two – three years is a fall out of the announcement Mayor S.M. Velusamy made in his budget address.

He had said that to help the Corporation scrutinise detailed project reports prepared by contracted agencies and oversee the implementation of such projects, the civic body had decided to constitute an experts’ committee. The members of the committee would ensure that the projects the Corporation would implement were of good quality and that the executing agency complied with the contractual obligations.

The Mayor said that the Corporation had allocated Rs. 60 lakh for this purpose for the year.

Sources in the Corporation explained that the staff present did not possess the necessary qualification to inspect the detailed project report to be prepared for a variety of projects in transport, energy conservation, e-governance and water supply. It was forced to accept the DPR as such or refer it to experts outside.

Also during project execution, the Corporation staff were unable to confirm if the executing company or contractor went by the standards and specifications mentioned in the contract agreement. It made a headway while executing the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission project by asking experts in the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, to ascertain the quality of work.

But, this time it was in need of experts in various fields, the sources said and added that the civic body had decided to engage professionals for the purpose. Or, in short, outsource the quality control work.

The civic body was forced to do so because its proposal with the State Government to create new posts and fill existing vacancies in the engineering section was pending. The Corporation had sent the proposal more than a year ago.

The sources added that the arrangement was likely to continue till the proposed projects were completed or till the Government sanctioned the posts.