Bengaluru: In almost a year since Ozone won the tender bid for reconstruction of the Bangalore Football Stadium, much has happened outside, while things have taken a turn for the worse inside, the premises of the said property.
An allegedly fraudulent tender process, questionable outcome and a case with the Anti-Corruption Bureau has stalled any chance of progress with government approval pending.
In a bid to force the issue back into the limelight, renowned builders Embassy Group, on Thursday, urged the government to reconsider their previous bid.
Embassy, who were part of the tender process in July 2016 and rejected on technical grounds, have cited the ‘less than transparent circumstances of the bid’ as basis for their appeal.
“We had some competitive bids but we feel they don’t qualify; like the companies that bid who had identical directors,” said Rajesh Bajaj, senior VP of Corporate Affairs Embassy Group, said on Ozone winning the tender.
He also cited the lack of a MoU between Ozone and prospective partners Hines and a conflict of interest with their club Ozone FC to add credence to his argument.
While those are indisputable points, Embassy Group had bid, somewhere between 675 and 525 crores, in partnership with JSW group and should they be given the tender, it would have to be as a conglomerate. A query to which there was little clarity.
“At the time we were trying to do it together. JSW and us, we don’t have any agreement. As an organisation, we have the ability to do it ourselves but we may renew talks (with them),” stressed Bajaj.
