In a bid to keep its image clean ahead of the civic bodies’ elections, the BJP-led North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Monday withdrew several “controversial” projects.
These included Rani Bagh parking project, renewal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) contract that led to former Mayor Ravindar Gupta and then leader of the House trading corruption charges against each other and also a project where National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) was to construct a host of building projects on behalf of the North Corporation.
North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Sanjeev Nayyar said these three projects would be withdrawn. “The NBCC project and MSW contract renewal has been referred back,” Nayyar said.
The North Delhi Municipal Corporation had planned to construct almost six sites comprising nearly 2.5 lakh sqm land.
The corporation had decided to give the project to the NBCC that would bear the entire cost of construction, charging interest of 15 per cent of the total expenditure. The company was expected to charge 7 per cent for Project Management Consultancy (PMC) and 1.7 per cent as marketing charges on total lease/rent consideration. The bone of contention, however, remains that an open tender was not conducted by the corporation, unlike every other project of the MCD.
The civic agency said the NBCC is likely to construct a civic centre-type structure at Azadpur as there is a huge chunk of vacant land.
The Corporation has been planning to develop around 84,000 sqm land at Model Town, 1.01 lakh sqm at Azadpur, 31,500 sqm at Dhaka, 4,200 sqm and 13,500 at Minto Road, approximately 3,200 sqm in the Walled City and one lakh sqm at Kashmere Gate, Paharganj and Karampura.
In a letter to BJP President Satish Upadhyay, former Mayor Ravindar Gupta had alleged that leader of the House Yogender Chandolia and the Standing Committee Chairman Mohan Bhardwaj were trying to award a contract for projects worth Rs10,000 crore to NBCC even as other PSUs were ready to execute the same at a lower cost.
In yet another case, the project regarding the renewal of garbage-lifting contract in north Delhi areas is also at the centre of attraction. A few months ago the matter related to the renewal of the contract for garbage collection at the rate of Rs1,300 per metric tonnes was taken up. During the House meeting, then Mayor Ravindar Gupta had been maintaining that the same can be done at Rs475 per metric tonnes.
The issue led to a dispute between ex-Mayor Ravindar Gupta and former leader of the House Yogender Chandolia trading corruption charges against each other. While Gupta accused leader of House Yogendra Chandolia of ‘benefiting’ private contractors, the latter had hit back alleging that the Mayor has been collecting ‘donations’ in the name of the party fund.
Gupta also wrote a letter to Satish Upadhyay that the Standing Committee officials were building undue pressure on him for awarding the contract of garbage lifting at a higher price when it could be done at a lower cost. “It is not possible to lift garbage at a price lower range than Rs1,200 metric tonnes as other MCDs are also charging the same,” said Yogender Chandolia on Monday.
Faced with financial crisis, the North MCD had decided to auction the plot at Sant Nagar in Rani Bagh to come up with a multilevel parking facility for 600 cars. The multi-level parking over an area of 3,000 sq meter was supposed to be completed by year 2017.
The same project had earlier been given on PPP basis, but the Corporation’s Standing Committee had cancelled the tender and cleared the proposal to auction the plot. The previous tender was about to be given the highest bidder, consortium of Meriton Towers Pvt. ltd. and ABA Builders ltd., for a one-time amount of Rs27 crore and security of Rs1.30 crore. The bid security amount was, however, refunded to the consortium. According to North MCD officials, the project was supposed to earn revenue of Rs27 crore.