Tk 10.12 crore projects of SCC ahead of polls
New candidates say it aims at benefitting incumbent councillors
With only four weeks before the Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) polls, the SCC authorities have floated tenders for development schemes amounting Tk 10.12 crore.
Demanding immediate suspension of the tenders, several new candidates for the SCC coun-cillorships have said such practice is contradictory to the election rules.
The schemes were intentionally kept pending only to give extra benefits to the incumbent ward commissioners and others concerned, the new candidates said.
An SCC official, however, said the tenders were processed before the announcement of the election schedule and the tenders were processed by June 30 as the schemes were taken up during the recently ended fiscal year 2007-08.
On June 25, the SCC authorities called tenders for 29 schemes to be implemented with Tk 9.81 crore from the government fund and 14 schemes worth Tk 31.1 lakh funded by the ADB, SCC and the government.
Proposals for the schemes are scheduled to be received on July 23.
When contacted, SCC acting mayor Azam Khan said the schemes under the said tender processing will not influence the upcoming elections as implementation of those will begin after the polls.
“However, we will look into the matter soon,” he said.
Chief executive officer of the SCC, Kazi Abdul Nur told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon, the tenders were processed weeks ago, even before the announcement of the election schedule.
“However, we will not go beyond the election rules. The date for receiving tenders will be extended within a day or two through a corrigendum and the new date will be after the elections,” he added.
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