Govt departments can give CPWD the go by

NEW DELHI: A century-old bastion of government monopoly is opening up to reforms. The Urban Development Ministry has decided to give Central Public Works Department (CPWD) a coat of liberalisation to encourage competition.
The first step in this direction will be to free all government departments from the mandatory need to hand over construction work costing less than Rs 5 crore to CPWD, known technically as GFR 136. Outsourcing would be encouraged as the CPWD gradually moves in line with privatisation goals of the government.
Modification of GFR 136 would allow government departments to choose any contractor of their choice for projects costing less than Rs 5 crore, urban development minister Ananth Kumar said today.
Addressing mediapersons here, he said private construction in other projects would also be encouraged if the department concerned obtains permission from the urban development ministry. A decision to this effect is being taken on the basis of recommendations of a committee set up under Mr Nitin Gadkari, former public works minister of Maharashtra, to work out a roadmap for turning the CPWD into a professional body. “In many cases, GFR 136 was acting against the interests of both the parties. The department concerned had no option to go to private contractors. At the same time CPWD was finding small projects unviable,� Mr Kumar said. The Gadkari committee’s first set of recommendations are being accepted in full, he added.
The panel, set up by the ministry during May 2002, would submit its second set of recommendations soon. The committee would suggest measures to improve quality standards in the construction industry and emphasise the significance of performance audit.
Mr Kumar said the urban development ministry’s aim was to usher in improvement in construction quality and bring down costs for all government projects. Retraining, downsizing and functional flexibility were needed for CPWD to modernise and turn more efficient, he added.
The Gadkari report has suggested short-term corrections, a medium-term action plan and a long-term policy to phase the change gradually.
The urban development minister said action would be taken within a week in cases where the ministry had to take decisions. The next set or recommendations from the committee are expected within two months. The panel has set up six sub-groups for in-depth study of certain issues, who have been asked to submit their views within six weeks.