MCD revises budget of street-lighting contract for CWG’10

MCD has now increased the budget by 12 crore, from the original 60 crore as they felt that a fresh tender for adding only 40 km of road stretch to the existent plan of 157 km could delay their work that was already running short of the deadline.

An MCD official reveals, "According to the terms and conditions of the contract, no fresh tenders could have been floated for road length measuring less than 100km. We could not have included these stretches in phase-III as more streetscape stretches had been taken up and streetlights had to be installed along these.”

“Therefore, we decided to revise the existing contract and ask the same company to carry out work on the 26 additional stretches also. If a fresh tender was invited there would have been a possibility of receiving higher rates and the process of awarding work would have consumed more time,” he reasoned.

Revision when no time left
The revised contract was sent for approval on Monday, even though the project’s second phase’s due date is nearing. To this an official explains, "We had taken in-anticipation approval beforehand as work had to start immediately.''

The contract now stands at Rs 72 crore for 157km of road stretches, including an additional 40km stretch.

The extra roads, where streetlights will be fitted are the ones that lead to Commonwealth Games venues, training venues, hospitals, historical locations, hotels and tourist areas.

Hauz Khas Village main road, Savitri cinema road, Shaheed Surya Sen Marg, B C Pal Marg, Lotus Temple Marg, Veer Savarkar Marg and Shiv Mandir Marg are some other roads included in the revised contract.

MCD's tender document for the revision of the present deal states that as per the guidelines of the Delhi government, the work of streetscaping and streetlights was required to be completed latest by mid-July, but now Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has extended it till August 11.

Dengue and H1N1 influenza threat looms as debris not removed from roads
Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, the Delhi government is gripped by the threat of dengue and H1N1 virus that has engulfed the capital.

106 cases of the H1N1 influenza infections have been confirmed in Delhi in the last one week, while eight cases of dengue were also reported on Monday.

“Dengue fever typically peaks in September-October and we are expecting maximum cases around that time. We have intensified our efforts but are keeping our fingers crossed,” said Dr N K Yadav, Municipal Health Officer, MCD.

Talking about the H1N1 infections, Dr Debasish Bhattacharya, Delhi government’s nodal officer for H1N1 informed, “We have nearly 15-17 cases a day now. The dip in temperature makes it conducive for the virus to multiply."