SLUG: ICONIC ROADSAhmedabad: The iconic roads project seems to have hit some bumps. Officials in the lights department have thrown light on how some consultants hired by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) are amping up project estimates by prioritizing European standards over Bureau of Indian (BIS) standards for LED fixtures on light poles for these iconic stretches. This choice, the sources say, has increased the estimated cost by 30%-40%. Besides overlooking BIS standard equipment, some estimates exclude Standards of Rates (SOR) set by the Gujarat govt and include non-SOR items like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes and double wall corrugated (DWC) HDPE pipes. This too has led to inflated project estimates, the sources said.An AMC official not wanting to be named confirmed that a few companies planning to bid for SITC (supply, installation, testing, and commissioning) works for iconic roads have filed formal complaints with AMC over the way consultants are calculating cost estimates.Typically, tenders are to be prepared based on estimated costs that consider SOR. On the contrary, non-SORs items have inflated the projects’ estimated costs, which in turn, means higher fees for consultants. The official said that a tender has been floated for SITC of light poles (for illumination as well as decoration) for the iconic stretch from Naroda Mukti Dham to Dehgam Junction. Here, the estimated cost has been set at Rs 13.74 crore, though it can potentially be completed for Rs 7.75 crore, according to sources.The SITC tender for the iconic road from Chandkheda Visat Circle to Tapovan Circle was floated at an estimated cost of Rs 12.83 crore, while the actual cost could be Rs 10 crore. For the iconic road from Kenyug Circle in Satellite to SG Highway, a Rs 4.64 crore tender was floated. This too had inflated costs, the sources said.
