BMC Floats 361 Tenders Worth Rs 600 Crore After Model Code of Conduct Withdrawal

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has floated 361 tenders worth around Rs 600 crore in the month following the civic elections according to official records, with most of them issued immediately after the withdrawal of the model code of conduct. Of the total tenders floated between January 17 and February 9, 355 are currently live. The tenders were issued after the State Election Commission lifted the code of conduct imposed ahead of local body polls, ending a month long freeze on civic contracting activity. The tenders cover a range of infrastructure and civic works across Mumbai including resurfacing of roads in the eastern suburbs and repairs to portions of the Bandra Waste Water Treatment Facility (WWTF). Civic officials said a large number of these tenders had been pending since December but could not be floated due to the code of conduct. BMC records show that no tenders were floated between December 15 when the code came into effect and January 16, when the civic elections were announced. “Usually five-ten tenders are floated every week. However, during the month-long period of code of conduct no new tenders could be floated and a backlog was created. Therefore, after the elections they were uploaded immediately to prefer any delay in executing the civic works” an official told The Indian Express on Monday. Among the key works tendered during this period are repairs at the municipal-run KEM Hospital, hiring of vehicles for waste collection in Borivali, drainage and passage repairs in Malad, procurement of vehicle-mounted mist spray machines to address air pollution and maintenance of CCTV cameras at HBT College. The tendering push comes as the civic body prepares to transition out of administrator’s rule which has been in place since March 7, 2022 after the dissolution of the elected body. During this period, all tenders were cleared by the municipal commissioner as the powers of the mayor and statutory committees were vested in the post. “The administrator rule will continue in BMC till the Mayor is elected. If any of these projects whose tenders are already live faces a road block then they will be sent back to acquire a fresh process of approvals from the statutory committees which are currently not there for the past four years” a civic official said.