The much-needed CCTV surveillance project for Mumbai in the wake of 26/11 terror attacks has fallen through again. This time round, the negotiation with the second lowest bidder — AGC Network Ltd — failed following its refusal to bring down the biding price from `1,051 crore. Hence, the state government has to now recall for a fresh tender for the third time.
The Maharashtra government had decided to install 6,000 CCTV cameras across 1,500 important locations in Mumbai, along with 12 patrolling cameras fitted in mobile vans and 1,000 police vans fitted with a modern Global Positioning System (GPS). The project cost is expected to be around `699.5 crore.
According to a source from the home department, the first tender process was cancelled as Mukesh Ambani group-backed Allied Digital Services consortium stepped away from the bidding process after some dispute. The second time, Gujarat-based Sai Infotech system won the bid with the lowest quote of `766 crore. The second lowest bidder was AGC Network that quoted `1,051 crore. The bid was finalised under a high-power committee headed by chief secretary Jayantkumar Banthia on January 20 this year.
Meanwhile, Sai Infotech went bankrupt, so the committee had to negotiate with the second highest bidder and convince it to bring down their quote. However, as it was not ready to relent, the state has to call for a fresh tender a third time.
Sources said that this time, the tenders would be without harsh conditions as compared to the previous two tenders. The government will scale down the clause of accuracy of images in the service level agreement (SLA) down to 99.5 per cent.