Mohali’s modern abattoir project hits roadblock

Kulwinder Sangha

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Mohali, October 24

The ultramodern slaughterhouse project of the Municipal Corporation here, which has already been delayed by over eight months, has again hit a roadblock with no party prepared to execute the work at the cost worked out by the civic body.

It appears as if the first-of-its-kind project to be executed in Punjab is jinxed because the corporation failed to get a favourable response whenever tenders for the work were floated.

The time period for the project was 18 months and it should have been completed by June 2016.

It is learnt that the corporation had failed to get a good response when tenders for hiring a consultant for the project were floated earlier this year.

Mitcon, which had worked on major projects, was hired as consultant when tenders were floated for the third time. Later, when the tenders for the execution of the modern slaughterhouse project were floated, the civic body failed to get any response. It was compelled to float tenders the second time when only one party showed interest. The tenders were floated for the third time when three parties expressed interest in the execution of the project.

Sources said the lowest financial bid received for the execution of the project was Rs 10.55 crore against the cost of Rs 809.06 lakh worked out for the project.

It is learnt that Mitcon, the consultant which had also been asked to engage a company to maintain and operate the slaughterhouse, has now been asked to find out whether there was any justification for the lowest bid of Rs 10.55 crore quoted by the company for the execution of the project. MC Commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta said Mitcon would now try to find out whether there was any justification for the high bid amounts. It would take at least two months to know what would finally happen to the project.

The Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries is to provide financial aid of Rs 332.57 lakh while the local body/state government’s share in the project is Rs 476.49 lakh. The abattoir is to come up on about 2.6 acres in the Phase I Industrial Area and have a capacity for slaughtering sheep, goats, poultry birds and pigs. The aim of setting up such a project is to ensure the scientific and hygienic slaughtering of animals.