City Centre plan: ‘Stringent norms’ keep bidders away

The controversial City Centre plan of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has received a pathetic response. “No bids have been received. I don’t what exactly happened,” said a disappointed Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma on Saturday. Despite facing fire from corporators,Sharma had gone ahead with the plan.

Sharma said probably it seems the “stringent conditions” put by the civic body has kept the bidders away. “At least 15 applications had been sold. We were expecting a few bids,but nobody came forward. It seems the condition that we put deterred the bidders,” the civic chief said. Sharma said the condition specified that only bidders with excellent qualifications,skills and expertise would be considered. “We are looking for a quality job,one which will draw praise from the world. That’s why we had put strong conditions for the bidders,” he said. The PCMC now plans to extend the deadline for claiming the City Centre job. “On Monday,we will decide whether to extend the deadline for forwarding applications by 15 days or one month,” Sharma said.A few days back,Sharma who was pushed on the backfoot by the controversy over the City Centre plan in Chinchwad,took pains to explain to the citizens that the project was in the larger interest of the twin township.

Sharma had said the protests inside and outside the PCMC over the project was not justified as his administration was not doing anything that would harm the growth and image of the industrial town. “Whatever is being done is for the benefit of the city,” he had said.

MP Gajanan Babar,corporators Maruti Bhapkar and Seema Savle had alleged that the PCMC was handing over the 34 acres to the developer for peanuts. They alleged that a massive financial scandal was brewing over the City Centre plan. Babar threatened to drag the PCMC to court over the issue. The City Centre plan envisages construction of multi-storey building housing corporate offices,retail shops and entertainment centres on a 34-acre plot along the Pune-Mumbai highway at Chinchwad. The project has been planned on a public-private partnership. The PCMC will lease the land to a developer for 99 years. The developer is supposed to set up the project and sub-lease the offices. Of the 34 acres,50 per cent will house corporate offices,30 per cent retail shops and 20 per cent entertainment centres. Civic officials said the PCMC expects lease rentals in crores. In June,when the City Centre plan first came to the fore,Sharma had said that NCP chief Sharad Pawar had extended his support to the project.