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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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.