the goan I network
MAPUSA
It couldn’t get worse for the cash-strapped State-run Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC). There are no takers for collection of stand and pay-parking fees at bus stands run by the KTC in the State.
The corporation was forced to issue tender advertisements at least five times inviting bids for collection of stand fee and pay-parking fee in Mapusa.
The tender notice for stand and parking fee collection at the Mapusa bus stand was first issued on January 2 this year. A corrigendum of the tender notice was subsequently released on January 18 and 28 and again on February 4 and 14.
Sources in the corporation informed that even after inviting bids five times, only one contractor applied in Mapusa.
The corporation faced a similar problem in Cuncolim, where advertisement bids inviting for pay-parking were issued at least four times.
While Mapusa Municipal Council and civic bodies across the state have had no problem engaging contractors for pay parking, the KTC is caught in a unique quagmire.
One of the main problems the corporation has been facing is that the entire land where the bus stands are being operated is owned by the transport department and only part of it is leased out to the KTC.
Only certain limited areas are fixed for pay-parking while a large part of the open space at the bus stands is for the taking for public.
“Most people who come into the bus stand prefer to park vehicles in the open space leaving the pay-parking contractor high and dry,” an official attached to the corporation informed.
GOACAN coordinator Roland Martins said, “If transport department and KTC can sit across the table and find a way out, it could be win-win for both. People visiting the bus stand too will get good service.”
KTC MD Derrick Pereira Neto informed that contractors were quoting way less than the rate fixed by the corporation for pay-parking zones.
“People are quoting 50% less than the rate we have fixed. We have no other alternative but to re-tender the contract,” Neto said.
On the issue of providing good parking service to public, the GOACAN coordinator said pay-parking employees have to wear proper uniform, sport an ID card and issue proper ticket.
“Also, a notice board with a pay-parking fare has to be properly displayed,” he said.
