Gujarat Hardlook | ‘PPP’ Pitfalls: Recent tragedies in Ahmedabad, Morbi, Vadodara have a common thread

January 18, 2024: Fourteen people, including 12 children and two teachers, died after a boat capsized in Harni Lake in Vadodara.

A spate of recent accidents involving structures developed or being maintained on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode has the Lokayukta sit up and take note of the quality of the works and their audits.

“There has to be some checks and accountability for poor performance and lapses and negligence in performance of the work both by the contractor and by the agency like AUDA (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority) or Project Consultancy which has been appointed to supervise the execution of the project,” the Lokayukta noted in its annual report taking suo motu cognisance of the Mumatpura bridge collapse. The report was recently tabled in the ongoing budget session of the Gujarat Assembly.

Drawing attention to the three key agencies involved in public-private partnerships, the Lokayukta only reiterated the questions regarding accountability the Gujarat High Court raised when it took suo motu cognisance of the Vadodara incident and before it, the Morbi bridge collapse case.

In the aftermath of the Harni accident, the state government directed all district collectors and local bodies to suspend activities in the water bodies.

The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) was quick to close five community halls, the joy train inside Sayajibaug Garden, and boating facility at Sursagar lake — even suspending the licence of the boating operator for ‘violating’ the closure notice. Boating in Sabarmati River was also suspended as “licence-related compliances were lacking”, according to Deepak Patel, incharge general manager of Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Ltd, where the leisure activities are on a PPP contract.

A former bureaucrat associated with the Harni lake and the Morbi bridge projects told The Indian Express that while PPPs are the way forward for infrastructure development, “they cannot be without caution”.

Following the Harni tragedy, an association of victims of the Morbi bridge collapse moved the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of an expert committee to examine repeated instances of negligence of municipal bodies and contractors that led to incidents such as the Jhulto Pul collapse and the boat capsize. The petitioner highlighted that the mishaps have a common template where the local body outsources the repair, upkeep and management of public facilities such as lakes, bridges, etc, to a private contractor without retaining adequate control and oversight. The private contractor, in turn, further outsources the work to other subcontractors with neither taking necessary safeguards to take care of an emergent situation.

Harni Lake tragedy

When VMC put out the tender for the Motnath Harni Lake Redevelopment project in 2015, M/s Kotia Projects — a snack manufacturer — bid and was disqualified because it had no experience in leisure infrastructure projects, had zero turnover, and had not submitted any tax documents. However, in 2017, the civic body awarded the contract to the same firm after it entered into a joint-venture with a company owned by Gopaldas Shah, a former VMC town planner, who is now among the 20 arrested in the case.

Under the contract, the developer was to “be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the premises for 30 years”.

While creating a lake front, VMC’s tender document for the project had quoted famous landscape architect Michael Hough from his 1984 book ‘Cities and Natural Process’: “A balance of public private development is an ideal scenario” .

The MoU that VMC signed with M/s Kotia Projects in July 2017 permitting ‘pedal-boating’ saw the developer violating the clause first by deploying motorised boats and ignoring the mandatory provision for having life-guards and other safety equipment, including buoys and ropes for rescue operations.

Congress’s Ami Ravat, VMC’s leader of Opposition, who had demanded a vigilance inquiry against the project in 2016, said: “The work of development of ponds on PPP model was put forth in (VMC’s) General Board on February 20, 2016, and 14 of the 76 councillors voted against it”, suggesting they be developed by the municipal corporation. However, their objection was overpowered.

The Indian Express has learnt that the MoU signed between VMC and Binit Kotia of M/s Kotia Projects allowed the development of the Harni Motnath lake “on PPP mode” with a children’s play area, senior citizen’s zone, and a “jetty for the purpose of pedal-boating and life-guard’s jetty for surveillance and security”.

“The firm had not attached the required income tax documents. In fact, both firms (bidders Kotia and Mangalam Construction) were disqualified and a re-tender was undertaken. In the second round, Kotia Project returned as part of a joint-venture (JV) with another firm and submitted the required documents. The JV qualified and was awarded the contract,” said VMC Commissioner Dilip Rana.

In lieu of “rejuvenating” the lake, Kotia got three plots in its periphery, measuring 5,686 sq m, worth around Rs 17 crore at a rent of Re 1 for 30 years.

The company also got a tax waiver for five years from VMC and rights to advertise on a 450-sq m space on acquiring the completion certificate for the project.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the boat capsize case has found that “overcrowding and absence of life jackets” proved the ride fatal for the 12 children and two teachers of New Sunrise School.

On February 15, when the police conducted a ‘buoyancy test’ by placing sandbags in the boat matching the weight it might have carried that fateful day, the boat sank. “The boat, capacitated to carry 14 passengers, had 30 on board, of which only half had life jackets; the boatman was not qualified to run a motorised boat; the developer had “sub-let” the boating contract to another firm Dolphin Entertainment that had hired “non-swimmers” to assist the boatman,” the SIT has found.

VMC’s general board, the final decision-making authority, had given the go-ahead to the contract after the Standing Committee cleared a proposal of the ‘Futuristic Planning Cell’. The covenants of the agreement also mandated that the developer “ensure that sufficiently competent and qualified personnel shall always be on hand at the work site”.

“I was not in-charge of the Futuristic Planning Cell when the MoU was signed. The onus of inspection was with the Zone office,” Rajesh Chauhan, executive engineer of the Futuristic Planning Cell — the complainant in the FIR lodged against M/s Kotia Projects at Harni police station, told The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, in the VMC general board meeting on February 14, BJP corporator Ashish Joshi from Ward 15 — where most of the deceased victims resided — protested demanding Municipal Commissioner Dilip Rana to decide the “liability of the department concerned”.

The Municipal Commissioner has submitted a letter to the SIT stating that the Futuristic Planning Cell had conducted the last inspection of the Harni Lake Zone in November 2022. However, the SIT is waiting for the documents pertaining to the certification of the boats and other technical inspections.

Last week, while dismissing the bail plea of three of the 20 arrested partners of M/s Kotia Projects, a Vadodara court had cited the municipal commissioner’s letter to the SIT that said: “It does not appear that VMC conducted an inquiry into any shortcomings observed after undertaking a visit and directing rectification. The police have also submitted that records of VMC’s visits for inspecting the Lake Zone have been sought, but the civic body has not yet provided any records even after 21 days of the incident.”

Morbi bridge collapse

On October 30, 2022, there were 350 people on the 261-metre long, 135-year-old ‘Jhulto Pul’ with over 3,000 tickets sold to a crowd when the bridge reopened amidst Diwali celebrations. Shortly, the bridge collapsed after a cable snapped killing 135 persons.

In the aftermath of the incident, the state government superseded the Morbi municipality, which had handed over the “comprehensive management” of the bridge for 15 years beginning March 7, 2022 to Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (AMPL) of Oreva Group, a clockmaker.

“An agreement has been signed with Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (Oreva Group) for Jhulto Pul’s “management” like O&M, (security)/cleanliness/maintenance/payment collection/staff, etc..,” the MoU said. It also had details on the fee to be charged from visitors.

The memorandum states that AMPL will repair the 135-year-old cable-stayed bridge at its own cost. “Oreva Group shall renovate Jhulto Pul properly and then throw it open to the public. This will likely take eight to 12 months from the date of signing of the agreement,” the document said. However, nowhere does the MoU explicitly or implicitly state that after the repair, AMPL will have to get a load test and structural stability test done of the 1.25-metre-wide and 261.80-metre-long bridge that was constructed in 1887. It also does not talk about any requirement of a fitness certificate before throwing the suspension bridge open to visitors one more time. It does not specify the upper limit of the number of visitors allowed on the deck of the bridge at a time.

Instead, Clause 7 of the agreement says that neither Morbi municipality nor any other government department shall interfere in “all administrative works” related to the bridge once the MoU comes into force. “During the operation period of the agreement, revenue and expenditure on account of Jhulto Pul will go to Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (Oreva Group) and all administrative affairs, like staff appointment, cleanliness, ticket booking, maintenance, collection accounts of expenditure, etc, will be responsibility of Ajanta Manufacturing Private Limited (Oreva Group) and no government, non-governmental, municipality, corporation or any other agency shall interfere in these affairs,” the agreement, signed by Sandeepsinh Zala, the then chief officer of Morbi municipality, and an executive of AMPL reads. Zala was suspended from his job.

The agreement permitted Oreva to do “commercial activity and branding” during the contract period.

Oreva Group had the possession of the suspension bridge since 2008 when then Morbi district collector, authorised by the Morbi municipality, entered into an MoU with AMPL and handed over possession of the bridge to the private firm for nine years “for the purpose of maintenance, security, management, collection of fee and deployment of staff so that the bridge can be used by public”, underlines a report by the SIT appointed by the state government to probe the bridge tragedy.

“Being a small urban local body, Morbi municipality didn’t have the wherewithal to maintain such an old bridge that required frequent repairs. At the same time, the historic bridge was the star attraction and unique identity of Morbi town and as such, it needed to be accessible to residents of Morbi and visitors from outside. It was in such circumstances that the municipality had decided to hand over Jhulto Pul’s operations and maintenance to a private entity,” a functionary of the Morbi municipality says.

The 2008 MoU expired on June 15, 2017. However, officers of Morbi municipality claim that AMPL continued to enjoy possession of the bridge between 2017 and 2022. The Morbi municipality was superseded by the state government in April last year, citing its “failure” to discharge its duties. No fresh election to the civic body has been notified even as the state government’s budget for 2024-25 proposed to upgrade the municipality to a municipal corporation.

The Triple Ps

Civic bodies have “autonomy” in drafting PPP agreements, said Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) incharge city engineer Harpalsinh Zala. It does not require them to consult with the state’s Urban Development Department (UDD), he added. “We consult external consultants for legal assistance in drafting these agreements. Generally we mandatorily include the fire safety or disaster-related checks as directed by UDD in the agreements and in the tenders”.

On fixing of liability or responsibility of civic bodies in public projects built, operated or maintained by private parties, Zala says “there is no continuous monitoring” as it would “increase establishment costs as well as requirement of manpower” although clauses pertaining to periodic inspections of such infrastructure may be included in terms and conditions of the agreements. The liability or responsibility of civic bodies or local governance bodies are seen on a “case-to-case basis”, “depending on the type of lapses”.

“When we hand over a project on PPP basis, we assume that conditions are being adhered to as stipulated in the agreements or tender, where the private party will fulfill its responsibility accordingly,” said Zala.

In case a mishap or incident takes place, it is looked into if there was negligence or lapse on part of civic body’s officials who had conducted inspections or checks, he added.