The Public Works Department of Goa has better mathematiciansthan engineers.
By a clever use of sanctioned limits for projects and costover runs, projects worth Rs. 145 crores were sanctioned in three years in justthree constituencies of division 6, the division from where arguably the mostamount of money has been siphoned off from projects.
Documents procured by with The Goan reveal that PWD’sDivision VI had paid more than 11.25% of the estimated cost for project inNavelim, Margao and Fatorda constituencies for the period 2008-2012 tocontractors.
This cost overrun too was much over and above than theallowed 5% overrun. The payoff had been systematically made to ensure that no eyebrowswere raised and how. In the Navelim constituency, 235 of 424 works tenderedduring 2008-2012, the tenders were awarded with a cost escalation between 4-5%of the total cost.
Likewise 99 of 151 works tendered during the same period forFatorda constituency had a similar cost escalation. In a pattern reminiscent ofputting coins together, PWD added a few lakhs and crores more from over 60% ofits projects to fill in the coffers of the department’s senior officials andthe ministers.
Cost overruns: legally disguised heist: In the end it was aplanned and in real terms a sustained loot. The modus operandi is very simple.PWD Division VI Engineer Anil Ringane told The Goan that he had as theprinicipal engineer in his Division the authorization to sanction projects tothe tune of Rs 10 lakhs without the need for any sanction from his seniors. Healso said that as long as the cost overrun for any sanctioned project was wellwithin 5% of the sanctioned cost, the division needed no permission. Themandarins of PWD used the same principle to fl eece Goa of crores of rupees.
While the tendered amount of these works look routine innature and would not ordinarily raise any eyebrows what is suspicious is the alarmingregularity with which this escalation keeps happening. What however is strikingis the fact that of the 786 planned works carried out during 2008-12 in thethree constituencies of Navelim, Margao and Fatorda, there has been a costescalation of a whopping 19-20%, only in projects where the cost of project wasRs 1.5 crores and above. For example, projects like strengthening of roads inthe panchayats of Carmona and Cavelossim rose over 19% and the same pattern wasrevealed for repair works in Navelim Panchayat as well as Varca and OrlimPanchayats.
These projects saw a final tender amount being awarded at Rs10 lakhs to Rs 30 lakhs over and above the sanctioned amount. Either PWD Officials did not evaluate the worth of the tendered work well or was itcontractors calling the shots? Mega bucks for mega projects is another stark finding of the daily heist that PWD does in the name of tendering public moneyfor development and maintenance works. The then PWD minister Churchill Alemao’sthree pet projects in Navelim, the bridges between Benaulim and Sinquetim,Varca and Telaulim and Cavelossim and Assolna were tendered at an average costof 12.6% over and above.
The percentage may look harmless even though the amount ismuch above the Central Vigilance Commission and Central PWD norms of 5%, whatis interesting is the project cost rose by over Rs 8 crores. Despite the worksbeing tendered on the same day August 5, 2009 and the contractor walking awaywith the money the fact remains that the Rs 9.55 crore Benaulim-SinquetimBridge has been scrapped and the money taken care of. PWD’s Division VI was thehighest profile constituency under the previous government.
From former PWD Minister Churchill Alemao’s Navelim constituencyto former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s Margao constituency, besides otherconstituencies, whose MLAs controlled the last g overnment.
How works were tendered regularly to systematically siphonoff public money in just three of the constituencies raises serious questions asto the expanse of the loot of the exchequer across the state. These patterns ofcontract are more than questionable.
Navelim : 639% increase in contract amounts in election year
For example between 2008-9 and 2009-10, the works tenderedfor Navelim constituency rose from Rs. 12.46 to Rs. 92.15 crores, in 2011-12, a639% increase.
Margao: 396% increase in contracts in election year
In Margao, the tendered work rose from Rs. 7.81 crores in2010-11 to Rs 38.73 crores in 2011-12 by almost 396%. While Margao’s rise inprojects can be attributed to Assembly Elections of 2012 directly, whattriggered the increase in Benaulim four years ago is anybody’s guess.
However, what emerges definitely is the fact that humangreed and not political need governs the working of PWD where local politiciansidentify a project, the contractor spells out the stake and PWD is the entitythat structures the payment and the payback.
