A meeting of the city Corporation council on Tuesday decided to ink an agreement with the Kerala Electrical and Allied Engineering Company Limited (KEL) for the renovation of the slaughterhouse at Kunnukuzhy, which was closed down in 2013.
Although the work was earlier awarded to KEL last year, the civic body went in for a re-tender after the company demanded a mobilisation advance, amounting to 50% of the total cost of the project.
Uproar
This particular clause had led to much uproar from the opposition benches when the project was placed before the council in June last year. When the work was re-tendered, only KEL responded, quoting a project cost of ₹10.09 crore. Following negotiations, this was reduced to ₹9.57 crore, almost identical to the figure that it had quoted in the previous tender.
The completion period of the project is one year. BJP councillor M.R. Gopan said the company, which had taken up a work in his ward had delayed the project, and requested the Mayor to ensure that they comply with the deadline.
Advance amount
The council meeting also decided to allocate an advance amount from the Corporation’s own fund for projects to be taken up under the local body’s detailed project report (DPR) for solid waste management, as the funds from Centre and the State were yet to be credited to the Corporation’s account. The health supervisor, the implementing officer of the project, informed the council that projects worth ₹14 crore could be completed by March.
But this agenda item led to an uproar in the council meeting, with BJP councillor Anilkumar interpreting it as the quick preparation of a new DPR. Raising corruption allegations, he questioned how the preparation of a DPR for such a huge amount and implementation of the projects could be completed by March. The councillors of the United Democratic Front (UDF) also joined in, criticising the move.
However, Mayor K. Sreekumar clarified that these were projects, the DPRs of which were already approved by the State government. An allocation from the Corporation’s own fund was being made to ensure that there was no delay in the works, he said. While the UDF members seemed to be satisfied with this explanation, the BJP councillors stuck to their stand. The agenda was later passed including the objections of the BJP councillors.
