State News And Discussion - II

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<!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> <b>CAG report criticises MSRDC</b>
- NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, April 19, 2006 (New Delhi):

The CAG report for the year 2004-05 has criticised the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) for what it called "lack of transparency" in awarding contracts during construction of the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

In its report, the CAG found that there was lack of transparency in awarding of contracts for expressway toll and maintenance. Furthermore:

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation fixed the reserve price for the contract at Rs 900 crore, which was found to be much lower than its real value.

The MSRDC had to pay an additional Rs 54 crore for construction work and consultancy contracts.

The CAG also found that the toll collected from the Mumbai-Pune expressway was much lower than had been expected.