FOR THE third time in two months, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has extended the tender deadline for its ambitious aviary project citing lack of adequate number of bids.
In August, the civic authorities had floated a Rs 166 crore tender to construct the aviary at Mumbai’s Mulund area.
Initially, a deadline for the tender was fixed for September 19, which was later postponed to October 4.
Later this deadline was postponed to October 17 and the new deadline now stands on October 31.
Civic officials maintained that two prebid meetings were held with potential bidders earlier, where nine contractors had shown interest in taking up the project.
“We need to receive submission of bids from a minimum of three bidders to go ahead with the project. Since we are unable to receive the adequate number of bids we decided to extend the deadline,” an official associated with the project told the Indian Express.
The official said that during the pre-bid meeting most of the contractors had raised concerns pertaining to bank guarantee and clauses of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) considering the large scale of the project.
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The official said that the appointed contractor will be responsible for constructing the entire aviary and maintaining it for a period of two years.
For the task of maintenance work, the selected contractor may also have to sign MoUs with third party organisations for smooth execution.
According to the tender document, the facilities will have 22 different species of birds and some of the birds that will be housed in the aviary include – Sun Conure, Golden Conure, Eclectus Parrot, African Grey Parrot, Ostrich, Toco Toucan and Black Swan among others.
For accommodating birds like Pelican, Ducks, Crane and Ostrich, the authorities will also create dedicated holding areas that will comprise artificial water bodies and similar objects replicating the natural habitat of these birds.
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“The responsibility of acquiring the birds, however, lies with the zoo administration. The design of the facility was also prepared by us based on which civil works will be executed by the contractor,” the official added.
Meanwhile, accusing the chief engineer of the Building Maintenance department of “deliberately stalling the project”, BJP MLA from Mulund Mihir Kotecha has written to civic chief Bhushan Gagrani demanding a probe over repeated extensions.
“Despite the pre-bid meeting taking place over a month ago, no official replies have been issued to the queries raised by bidders, nor have the minutes of the meeting been prepared. Preparing minutes of a pre-bid meeting usually takes no more than 30 minutes. However, even a month later, there has been no response from the department. These repeated extensions are unjustifiable, unexplained, and unwarranted,” Kotecha said.
The proposal to construct an aviary was mooted last year, following which two different proposals were sent to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) for acquiring birds as well as for the approval of the layout of this park.
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The facility will also have a seating area, amphitheatre and knowledge centre along with walkways as well as a restaurant.
The knowledge centre will include artificial rockwork, along with thematic representation of multiple cultures. Inside the aviary the authorities will also construct an artificial waterfall.
“Each enclosure of the birds will replicate its natural habitat. The facility will be equipped with ample green cover since the idea is to transform this space into a recreation hub for citizens,” said a civic official.
The BMC’s tender stated that the facility will also house a hospital for the treatment of birds along with a dedicated quarantine facility.
