Construction of SRO, MRO, RDO office buildings yet to take off in Telangana

The Housing Corporation has received a poor response to tenders for constructing RDO, Tahsildar and Sub-Registrar office buildings across Telangana, with bids filed for only about 20 of nearly 60 packages. Officials attribute this to contractors' concerns over bill payments and are considering splitting projects into smaller contracts to attract more bidders.

Hyderabad: Plans to construct Sub-Registrar Offices (SROs), Tahsildar and Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) office buildings are yet to take off due to poor response to tenders floated by the Housing Corporation. Officials opine that this could be due to various reasons, including apprehensions over the payment of bills.

The State government had entrusted the Housing Corporation with the responsibility of constructing buildings for 10 RDO offices and 107 Tahsildar offices across the State. It was also tasked with constructing 48 SROs, three District Registrar Offices and two Deputy Inspector General offices. Specific orders were issued to this effect in July this year.

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A majority of these offices are being operated from rented buildings with limited space, while some are housed in dilapidated structures. Visitors to these offices have been complaining about a lack of basic amenities, including adequate space, toilets and parking facilities.

The State government decided to construct permanent buildings for these offices. Administrative sanction of Rs 97 crore was accorded for the construction of SRO and Registrar offices, and Rs 263.25 crore for RDO and Tahsildar offices.

Accordingly, the Housing Corporation floated tenders for executing all the works in nearly 60 packages. However, bids were filed for only about 20 packages, while there was poor response to the remaining 40 packages.

Contractors might have apprehensions over payment of their bills. Considering the limited budget of the Housing Corporation and uncertainty over whether the Corporation or the government would clear the bills, contractors might have weighed their different options, an official from the Corporation said.

Against this backdrop, the Corporation is now planning to revise the packages. Discussions are underway to execute the works through smaller contracts, which would enable more small and medium-sized contractors to participate and file their bids, the official explained.

The government had approved Rs 2.25 crore for the construction of each RDO and Tahsildar office building. If the works are executed on a unit-wise basis, it would also facilitate faster completion, he added.