Jusco told to justify extra Mango cost
Ranchi, Jan. 28: The state has asked Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco) to justify its claim of a rate 23 per cent higher than the estimated cost of Rs 52.50 crore for execution of the Mango water supply project.
Although Jusco, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Tata Steel, was shortlisted on the grounds of being the lowest bidder, the company representatives were reluctant to accept an increase of just 10 per cent in the estimated cost during a meeting at the drinking water and sanitation department.
Jusco official K.C. Tiwary and other technical experts participated in the meeting.
The tender committee, chaired by the department engineer-in-chief Md Sajjad Hasan, assured the company of considering a 10 per cent hike in the original estimate under government norms.
“Jusco officials do not seem to agree to our offer of maximum 10 per cent relaxation. We have asked them to justify their financial bidding so that it can be sent to the higher authorities for due approval,” Hasan said.
Another meeting with Jusco officials has been called on February 4 where company representatives are expected to give written justification of above 23.47 per cent rates quoted. Sources said that this is due to increased rates of ductile iron pipes, the main ingredient for the project, and Jusco representatives were not interested in lowering the quoted rates.
Under such circumstances, the onus would be on the state government (advisers and the governor) to take a final decision on whether Jusco should be given a go-ahead for execution of the project at higher rates.
Jusco was shortlisted for executing the project after the financial bidding process on January 20 by a tender committee of the state drinking water and sanitation department.
This was the fourth attempt by the tender committee of the state drinking water and sanitation department to finalise bids for the scheme incepted in 2006-07.
Earlier attempts proved to be futile allegedly due to the indifferent attitude of former drinking water and sanitation department ministers. With the imposition of the President’s rule, bureaucrats and technocrats thought the project would sail smoothly. But till now the matter hangs in the balance.
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