Bengaluru city is looking at a fresh garbage crisis as the Urban Development Department (UDD) has dumped the tender chosen by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for setting up a scientific landfill at Mittiganahalli near Hennur.
With the plan to set up a landfill at Mittiganahalli, BBMP had chosen a tender in July 2019 and finalised the bidder. However, UDD had to turn down the tender due to failing to fulfill the required conditions on the part of the bidder.
The bidder, as per the rules, should have possessed an experience of executing any project worth half the cost of the current project as a primary contractor. However, the bidder chosen had an experience only as a sub-contractor and hence failed to meet the expectations, according to sources in the UDD.
“The bidder had previously executed projects of KRIDL as a sub-contractor and not as a primary contractor. Hence, he is technically not qualified to be the bidder for the project,” the tender evaluation committee stated.
The move has made the BBMP wary of the consequences as it had planned to dump Bengaluru’s waste on the Mittiganahalli landfill as the existing landfills at Bagalur and Bellahalli are full to the brim.
The department has now directed the civic body to file a fresh tender process for the project. However, as of now, BBMP cannot float any fresh tenders for the same project for at least 45 days from the date of rejection of the file. Also, it has to give another 15 days for the tender submission for the same project.
Former Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, under whose tenure the tenders were floated said, “I had personally approached the government as the city is in need of another landfill and got the project approved. But with the government turning down the bidder, it will be a Herculean task for the BBMP to address the garbage disposal on a daily basis
With the entire process likely to be stalled for two to three months, the management of garbage disposal is most likely to be left in a fix, according to sources at the BBMP.
