JICA nod to river project tenders

Pune: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (

JICA

), which is funding the

Mula Mutha

river pollution abatement project, has given a go-ahead for completion of the tendering process.“The inauguration of the project work will be carried out soon,” said mayor

Murlidhar Mohol

at a press conference on Monday.

Girish Bapat

, MP, said that the delay in the tendering process had raised question on the funding of the project. “It was feared that the funding may be hampered due to the delay. But JICA has now confirmed that it will continue to finance the project. After assurance from JICA, all hurdles in respect of the project have been cleared,” he said.He said that the remaining tendering process should be finished as early as possible so that the work can be started within the financial year. According to

PMC

officials, the previous tenders were cancelled around three years ago. The base price and material costs were considered with the then rates prevailing in 2014. Now, the PMC has restructured the tenders as per current rates. The project will be worth Rs1,236crore. It includes operation and maintenance cost of around Rs216crore and Rs1,020crore project price. Earlier, the project cost was around Rs990crore. The project got delayed as land acquisition for five locations could not be completed.