BENGALURU: The Smart Parking Project is likely to be implemented soon, with the state government choosing to hand over work to a bidder. But strangely, the same bidder was rejected a month ago, and the chief secretary had also ordered the local civic body to call for fresh tender.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwara had last month rejected the finalised bidder for the project along 85 roads, citing “technical issues”, which involved questioning how the smart parking system could be implemented on 85 roads marked for TenderSure project and also for Smart Parking Project. He had asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to call for a fresh tender. However, the government took a U-turn and issued the order to the same bidder.
Interestingly, all these developments took place even after the chief secretary called for fresh tenders a few days ago. TNIE had published an article about the government reconsidering the same bidder, after negotiations with BBMP officials. BBMP chief N Manjuntha Prasad said, “The project has been approved, we will start work after elections.”
The BBMP wants to implement the project along 85 roads in the Central Business District to facilitate parking for 3,600 cars and 6,000 two-wheelers. The finalised bidder will pay `31 crore to BBMP every year, from its total revenue.
A BBMP official asked, “If the government knew the TenderSure project was coming up on 85 roads, and Smart Parking system could not be implemented there, how did it approve the project?”