PUNE: The National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) has put the ball in the PMC’s court over the issue of inflation of tender costs under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded pollution abatement of Mula-Mutha river project. It has instructed the civic body to review the tenders and decide at the local level.
NRCD is a government agency, which is responsible for carrying out the National River Conservation Plan across the country. NRCD is the nodal agency for the JICA project. The total cost of the project is Rs 990 crore, which was sanctioned by the Central government in January 2016. At that time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government took credit of the project. The BJP city unit had raised hoardings and banners and thanked MP Prakash Javadekar, who was then holding charge of Environment, Forest and Climate Change portfolio in Prime Minister Narendra Modi Cabinet-1.
Meanwhile, the BJP government completed its first term at the Centre and now they are serving a second term and MP Javadekar is now Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting. The project work has not started yet.
Recently, the PMC floated tenders for the JICA project. The estimated cost of construction of four Sewage Treatment pants (STPs) is Rs 410 crore. However, all five companies quoted 35 per cent more than the estimated cost, which went up to Rs 700 crore. The PMC then decided not to pay the inflated cost. The PMC sent a letter to NRCD informing it about the same. After sending three letters to NRCD, finally NRCD called PMC officials to discuss the issue in New Delhi on Wednesday.
During the meeting, Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao and Chief Superintendent of Sewage Water Treatment Department VG Kulkarni made presentations before the NRCD officials.
Senior officials of PMC said, “NRCD officials heard their side and reviewed the work. They instructed PMC to review the tenders and decide at its level. The officials did not give any concrete suggestions as to what to do with the inflated costs of the tenders. They have not clarified their stand on the issue.”
Under the JICA project, the PMC will construct 11 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in the city for pollution abatement of Mula-Mutha. The project includes collecting the sewage water from point source and diverting it to sewage treatment plant (STP), build STP and treat water and then release it into the river, to build a system which supplies treated water to reuse in agriculture and industrial purposes along the riverside.
