Nashik: The Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (NMSCDCL) decided to scrap tenders for two big projects due to excessive cost escalation.Members of the opposition in the civic body had raised questions about the cost escalation and had even written to the Prime Minister’s Office about the issue, alleging corruption in finalising bids for the Smart City projects.The two bids cancelled include area-based development project and Godavari riverfront development project. The area development project envisaged strengthening basic infrastructure in old city areas. The agency which won the bid quoted 60% more than the tender cost. Similarly, for the Godavari project, the contractor quoted 38% more than the tender cost.Civic chief Radhakrishna Game, who is also a director of NMSCDCL, held a meeting with officials on Friday and had received suggestions from bidders last week. He has decided to cancel both the tenders and bifurcate the work in these two projects. Separate tenders will be floated for each part to reduce the cost.“We have cancelled both the tenders. The cost quoted was very high and it is not affordable for us. We had discussed with the companies’ representatives and they suggested that if some of the works under the projects could be bifurcated, then we would receive competitive bids,” Game said.The cost projected in the tender for Project Goda was Rs 73.70 crore, whereas the winning bid was of Rs 102.35 crore. The cost of the area development project, as per the tender, was Rs 318.71 crore. The bidder quoted Rs 509.90 crore.Prakash Thavil, chief executive officer of NMSCDCL, said, “The decision to re-tender both the projects has been taken after consulting chairman Sitaram Kunte. We are working out how to bifurcate the works.”He said that the bidders had brought down the cost a bit. “We had told them that we can think of maximum 10% escalation and negotiate. But that did not happen. So, we will be inviting the tenders once again,” Thavil said.

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