The city Corporation’s Smart City project has hit another hurdle with the Smart City CEO M. Beena getting a central deputation to the Cochin Port Trust.
The second change at the top of Smart City comes at a time when the project management consultancy has just begun their work, after a delay in the selection process. According to officials at the Corporation, the local body has a few people on its mind, as her replacement. A decision in this regard will finally be taken by the Cabinet.
The Smart City board is scheduled to meet next on July 20. The Corporation is also on the lookout for eligible people to fill other key posts at the top of the Smart City SPV, including the posts of General Manager and the Chief Finance Officer.
The State government had removed K. Gopalakrishnan, the first CEO of Smart City, last year as he was not getting actively involved in the project. Last year, the selection process of the management consultancy, for the implementation of the Smart City project, had also hit an unexpected roadblock, with the company that was tipped to be selected after the opening of the financial bids, found to have been blacklisted in Assam. This led to a delay of a few months, until the Corporation took the decision to choose IPE Global Limited, which came up second in the bidding stage. The Corporation authorities have given a time frame of two years to the consultancy, to complete the entire project activity.
The Corporation is also carrying out weekly monitoring. A weekly report has also to be filed by the consultancy. Every two weeks, a review meeting is being chaired by the Mayor, with the CEO of the Smart City SPV also in attendance.
