Light at the End of the Tunnel?

As any regular reader of this blog will attest, tendering for construction of the Sammaan facilities has been a singular focal point of, and considerable challenge for, Project Sammaan for nearly a year-and-a-half. The hurdles have been well documented, as have the associated peaks and valleys of emotions with each perceived success and setback. It is with this history in mind that we share, with caution, potentially great news that could finally lead to ground-breaking on the first Sammaan facilities.

To provide some background first, the third reissue of the tender (this time split into four individual packages) in Cuttack once again did not yield any interested bidders, let alone qualified ones. In Bhubaneswar, based on the decision to reduce the number of sites for the initial phase of tendering to account for the reduced budgets available and based on site visits to check for encroachments, the project team resubmitted two packages (totaling 26 sites) for tendering. These two packages still require administrative approval from the BMC and, subsequently, technical sanction from the H&UD Department and the Engineer in Chief at the Public Health Department.

Considering the hurdles that have been faced with eliciting interest from eligible bidders in both cities for the tender, discussions were held with both the BMC & CMC on the possibility of nominating an established Public Sector Unit (PSU) for the construction of the Sammaan toilet facilities. Representatives from both municipal corporations were supportive of this, and the team moved forward with engaging in conversations with various PSUs to gauge their level of interest.

Thankfully, and fortunately, a potential PSU partner has been identified and conversations have shifted from generalities to hashing out terms of engagement. This potential partner is interested in taking on construction of all Sammaan facilities that are still pending award of contract, which translates to 21 Public Toilets and 26 Community Toilets in Bhubaneswar, along with the 32 Community Toilets in Cuttack; a qualified contractor was awarded the contract for six of the Public Toilets in Bhubaneswar in one of the previous rounds of tender. Furthermore, this potential partner has already issued Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to the municipal corporations. If the H&UD Department approves the nomination, construction could commence in as little as three months.

This two-month timeframe to begin construction across the board, once the MoUs are signed, has considerable implications on other project workstream timelines, most notably the baseline surveys and the pre-construction dialogues. Signing the MoUs should be the cue for starting both baseline, pre-construction dialogues, and site clearances, which have been in stasis throughout the tendering process. Plans are already in place to initiate these activities straight away, but given the potential kick-off for construction is such a short time span will certainly translate to a flurry of activity for the field teams. I think I can safely speak for the rest of the team in saying that this is a more than acceptable trade-off for construction finally starting though.

The review and response for this nomination is expected in the coming weeks. We eagerly anticipate a positive outcome with this, but, again, are doing our best to be as guarded and restrained in our optimism as possible. Contingency plans are being worked out should this suggested course of action be rejected and the tendering process need to continue, but we’re hopeful that these are just for the “worst case scenario”.

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