BDA puts off tender as bid document not uploaded in time!

By Y. Maheswara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru: Will the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) proceed to implement the much-awaited and debated Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project as per the Supreme Court’s direction? If the goof-up in floating the tender is anything to go by, it seems the BDA lacks the focus to do the required homework to start this project.

On March 31, the BDA floated a global tender inviting construction infrastructure companies to submit bids to develop the 74-km PRR through a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The BDA fixed May 18 as the last date for submission of the bids and stated that bids would be opened on May 20.

However, the BDA issued an advertisement on April 16 stating that the Tender Notification issued for the development of 8-lane Peripheral Ring Road with service road to Bengaluru City for approximate length of 74 km vide No. BDA/EM/EE/ID/Tender/ PRR-300/2021-22 dated 31-03-2022 has been postponed due to technical reasons. “The bid document has not been uploaded on the e-procurement portal in time. The revised dates will be announced later,” said BDA Engineer Member in the advertisement.

It may be recalled that hundreds of farmers made a vain bid to stage a dharna in front of BDA Head Office on April 13, but police thwarted it stating that an order issued by Karnataka High Court prohibits meetings, staging protests or dharnas at public places except at the Freedom Park. The police took some farmers’ leaders into preventive custody and later released them.

The police assured them to inform BDA Chairman and officials to arrange a meeting to discuss compensation for acquiring farmers’ land for the proposed PRR.

“We met the BDA Commissioner on Saturday to discuss the compensation issue. We have been demanding compensation as per the market price and solatium, but the BDA authorities want to provide compensation as per the standard rate (SR) value. The BDA floated a global tender for the PRR just to cheat or confuse farmers. We will approach the Supreme Court seeking justice,” said Jagadeesh Reddy, one of the land owners.

The proposed PRR requires around 2,500 acres of land and the estimated cost is to be Rs 21,091 crore. The state government gave an administrative nod on February 9, 2022 to float a global tender for the PRR.

On completion, it will connect Tumakuru and Hosur Roads via Hesaraghatta Road, Doddaballapur Road, Ballari Road, Hennur Road, Old Madras Road, Hoskote Road, and Sarjapur Road.