MARGAO
With no takers for its ambitious multi-level parking project, the Margao Municipal Council finds itself in a tight spot on how to go about executing the multi-crore project.
No bidder came forward to build the over Rs 7 crore parking project behind the Margao municipal building. In fact, there have been no takers for the tender floated by the Margao civic body at least on 3-4 occasions, leaving the City Fathers and municipal babus in a spot.
Sources in the civic body informed that many a bidder might have stayed away from submitting the bids for the reason that the rates of almost all the raw material, ranging from steel to cement, has increased manifold in recent months. MMC officials in the know, however, say the civic body has no power to enhance the rates of the items, pointing out that the municipal council has gone about with the tender after taking note of the government-approved GST rates.
With no liberty to unilaterally enhance the GST rates and many a prospective bidder having stayed away from the tender, a section of municipal officials in private said the project would have by now seen the light of day had it been executed by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC). In fact, the official said that the council should decide on how to go about executing the project given the situation.
“It is purely for the council to take a call on how to go about executing the multi-level parking project. Since bidders have shied away from taking up the project because of the prevailing rates, the council should take a call whether to still build the parking lot departmentally or request the government to take up the project through the GSIDC”, the official said.
Incidentally, the formation of the new government after the counting of votes on March 10 will determine the fate of Margao’s multi-parking project in the event the council decides to request the government to execute the project through the GSIDC.
It’s now more than six years since the foundation stone of the ambitious multi-level parking project was laid by the Margao municipality way back in 2015. Since then, the project had hit the block on a host of issues, including the introduction of the GST regime, bureaucratic red tape etc. as a result of which the commercial capital has no dedicated multi-level parking lot to cater to the growing requirements.
