It was a bit puzzling to spot this tender from BDA in newspapers last week. Dated Oct 15, it called for "Improvements to Service Road of Outer Ring Road from Marathalli underpass to Central Silk Board junction (missing bits)". At least on the tenderwizard site (click for all recent BDA tenders), there is no other older tender calling for improvements to these service roads. The puzzling part however is this. Service Road improvement work is already in full swing! In fact, I have been noticing digging work for over a month now.
So what could we be missing here? did work start even before the tendering process? Is BDA itself carrying out initial digging work? Or have they been rushing through the tendering process rather too quickly by perhaps not publicizing them enough?
Just curious. Our only interest is transparency. There is no easy way to track all this stuff they do - who bid how much, which contractor actually got the work awarded, and how was the contractor's work audited for accounting and quality. Just the basics you know.
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One more - for the two flyovers
talking about the flyovers, CM kicked off the projects on Oct 7. Cost 94 crores for both combined. Design - good question, God knows, besides I assume some BDA enginers. All we know is what this TOI news told us:
The Iblur junction flyover will have a three-lane carriageway and the Agara junction flyover will have a six-lane dual carriageway . They will play a key role in easing traffic on CSB-Marathahalli stretch.
BTW, not cribbing here
Just to make things clear, I am not trying to just crib here, only trying to understand how exactly do they execute these large projects in our city. The speed seems to be pretty good on this project, right? Since we don't see similar speed on many other projects taken up by BBMP and BDA, what exactly is making the difference here - the new government and ministers, or some process tweak, or some process by-passes?
ORR upgrade seems like a nice project, though I would like to know why is it that BRTS or any public transportation project on ORR has taken a backseat in favor of turning it into an expressway? I am holding off on going into criticism mode till detailed project design/plans are made public and we can see them. What measures would this expressway include to strengthen public transportation? If its going to be an access controlled road from Silk board to Hebbal, we don't really need dedicated lanes for buses. But then, BDA must prepare bus bays on service roads at all points where ORR intersects key radial roads. There should be provision for pedestrians to cross ORR, as well as easily walk up to radial roads. Etc etc.
Transparency please. BDA dear, we all want to know what you are doing, and we will like to help make your designs better. Don't just give us teasers by way of these single paragraph tender notices.
Last point for this comment. One news-report said that out of Rs 1000 crore allocated for ORR upgrade project, Rs 250 Cr have already been spent. That is 25% of the money!! Where has it gone? Is this (250 crore) the total tendered amount so far, or the "actual" spent !?
Transparency Act bypassed (from what I hear)
This will fall in 'unconfirmed, loose talk category. But some sources tell me that it probably has happened this way. Govt, under pressure to show some results on congestion front, might be bypassing the transparency act.
All these tenders, EOIs etc that we, the general public get to see is thanks to "THE KARNATAKA TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENTS ACT, 1999"
For bit more details, see link at KSPHC website (thanks to Mr R Srikumar, current DG Police, Karnataka, a web savvy man who we hear has done good work at KSPHC.