KOCHI: Absence of a crucial and mandatory technical submission that substantiated the architect’s credentials to design the Palarivattom flyover was overlooked while awarding the contract to RDS Project Ltd, the probe by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has revealed.
As per records, the tender for Palarivattom was a two-part submission—Part A technical bid and Part B price bid. The procedures mandated that Part A should contain the documents proving the technical qualification of a contractor.
The Instructions to Bidders (ITB) specified the proposed structural consultant should have satisfactorily completed the detailed design of at least two commissioned bridges of similar nature. It also mandated furnishing of documentary proof that included the memorandum of understanding between the bidder and the consultant.
However, documents seized by VACB reveal that RDS Project Ltd neither submitted a MoU with Nagesh Consultant, the designer of the flyover, nor any document to prove its consultant’s success in commissioned projects of similar nature.
“The accused set a plot to accept RDS Project’s bid instead of rejecting it. KITCO, the consultant agency which was supposed to verify the documents, even wrote a letter to RBDCK recommending RDS Project Ltd for executing the flyover project,” said PWD officers.
The terms and condition of the tender clearly specify that RBDCK should open the price bid of a contractor only if its technical bid qualified.
“Though RDS Project committed lapses in their technical bid, their price bid was opened and accepted instead of rejecting it,” said an RBDCK officer.
“There is a crime. The accused has deliberately attempted to play with the lives of the people by entrusting a designer with no prior experience in designing flyovers,” said a senior Vigilance officer.
Plea seeks directive for load test on flyover
Kochi: Association of Structural and Geo-technical Consulting Engineers, Ernakulam, on Thursday approached the High Court challenging the decision of the state government to demolish and reconstruct the Palarivattom flyover without conducting the load test to assess the structural stability of the flyover. The petitioners also sought a directive to conduct a load test to ascertain the structural stability. If the bridge passes the load test, the defects can be rectified based on a detailed study and recommendations by a reputed agency in the field of bridge engineering with substantial experience in bridge design and retrofitting/rehabilitation, the plea stated. The petitioners also said the manner in which sample cores were taken from each girder and the diameter of the cores were not as per specified standards.
Accused in Palarivattom case remanded till Oct 17
Kochi: The four accused in the Palarivattom flyover case have to continue in jail as the Vigilance Court on Thursday remanded them in judicial custody till October 17. The accused - former PWD secretary T O Sooraj, Sumit Goyal, managing director of RDS Project Ltd, M T Thankachan, former additional general manager of Roads and Bridges Development Corporation-Kerala, and Benny Paul, joint general manager of Kitco – have been trying hard to get bail, but the Vigilance team has been successfully opposing it by presenting crucial details before the Vigilance Court and the Kerala High Court validating the role of each accused in the flyover scam. The Kerala High Court on Thursday reserved orders on the bail petitions filed by the four accused.