Team Herald
PANJIM: Once bitten twice shy, fits the ongoing delay by the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) in the pay parking contract allotment which ended on April 30.
Speaking to Herald, CCP Commissioner Dipak Desai said that after the experience of 2016, the Corporation will first have a re-look at the policy and then go ahead with the process.
“I’m not going to do anything in a hurry. It will take time. There are many things which need to be put into place before tendering the contract. The contract will first go to the lawyers for review for terms and conditions and then we will tender it,” he stated.
The first contract was allotted to Straight Deal Services on May 2, 2016 and expired on April 30, 2017. While, the contract was initially awarded for Rs 63.01 lakh, providing concessions based on grievances raised by the contractor, CCP asked the contractor to pay Rs 2.50 lakh for the first six months instead of Rs 5,25,083 per month.
However, despite CCP reducing the contract amount from Rs 63.01 lakh to Rs 46,50,498, the contractor paid the CCP only Rs 8 lakh in four installments of Rs 2 lakh each. CCP further forfeited the bank guarantee deposited by the contractor of Rs 8,30,100 and the total amount recovered is Rs 16,30,100.
CCP has filed a civil suit against the contractor to recover the balance Rs 30,20,398.
Panjim Mayor Surendra Furtado said, “We have sent all our agreements to the panel of advocates to vet it and send it back to us water tight so that nobody takes advantage. Another clause that we are incorporating is that the contractor will have to submit a bank guarantee equal to the contract amount.”
He said that as soon as the agreements from the advocate are received they will be put before the council and then the tendering process will start.
