It is now being heard that all the fourteen game courts of the most wanted Rs20 crore sports complex at the bank of Sabarmati riverfront could be handed over to an agency for operations and management by avoiding the competitive bidding process. In order to avail the same, a proposal was put forward in front of Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (SRFDCL) board requesting an exemption from bidding.
Earlier this year on February 8, a similar action faced criticism by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s standing committee chairman, and one of the directors on the SRFDCL board, Hitesh Barot who was incredulous about how a government- run company could bear it to give a public-funded sports complex to a private agency without competitive bidding.
The sports complex includes four cricket practice pitches, five tennis courts, four multiple sports courts, two courts each for volleyball and basketball, a pickleball court, a gym, a skating rink, a skateboard arena, 800-meter jogging tracks, a children’s play area and two food courts. It was only after Barot’s insistence that a tender should be floated, the same was floated by SRFDCL in March 2022. An anonymous official reveals that though the Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) for this tender was Rs 5 lakh, the tender document failed to provide a base price for bidders.
The lack of a base price led to many private agencies not applying . SRFCDL stated that no one had turned up for the bidding. And this was said as the cause given by senior board members, for not paying attention to the tendering process in the upcoming July 18 meeting.
