The delay in roping in a private agency to provide sanitation services in the 62 wards of the city could cost the civic body Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funds, as the scheme would expire after March 31.

Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) had given the responsibility of floating tender for hiring the agency to Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo). But the latter has delayed the work by over a month.

According to sources, the tenders were to be floated in March. But the initiation of the project had now been extended by at least a month, they added.

A senior BUIDCo official said: “We are in the last stage of finalising the bid documents. It should be ready within a few weeks. We will then invite private agencies to bid for the scheme.”

PMC mayor Afzal Imam said if the tenders were not floated by March 31, the civic body would miss out on the funds earmarked for the project under the JNNURM.

The first phase of the central scheme would expire on March 31, 2012. Projects cleared after that, sources said, would not be qualify for the JNNURM funds.

“The civic body decided to outsource the garbage disposal work of the 62 wards to a private company because it does not have the resources to cart out trash from the entire corporation area. We wanted to enrol a private firm at the earliest. But the BUIDCo is delaying the project,” said Imam.

The mayor said: “The proposal to float tenders through the BUIDCo was passed in the PMC’s board meeting on January 4 this year. Earlier, the PMC’s empowered standing committee had approved the plan.”

The PMC’s agreement with the private firm, A2Z Infrastructure Private Limited, for garbage collection went awry over payment. The company had entered into an agreement with the PMC in January, 2010. It initially started carting trash from nine wards and an equal number of streets in the city. The civic body had planned to hand over the responsibility of garbage collection of the entire corporation area to the private firm at a later stage.

But the agreement between the private firm and the civic body went for a toss over payment and alleged breach of contract. Accusing the private firm of over-billing and violating the terms of contract, the PMC refused to pay a single penny to the company. The firm suspended its services on July 21 last year.

The matter is at present sub-judice.