Cuttack: Implementation of the Rs 149-crore integrated solid waste management project here hangs in the balance after the civic body has questioned the rationale behind spending so highly on outsourcing.

While a private company emerged as the lowest bidder for the five-year project, the Cuttack municipal council has held up the approval. The council questioned the decision to spend Rs 2.45 crore a month on garbage collection and disposal on grounds that it marked a Rs 95 lakh increase in the civic body's monthly expenditure. Delhi-based Metro Waste Handling Private Limited emerged as the lowest bidder for the contract after the financial bids were opened on November 23. The outcome of the bid was placed before the council for approval on November 28, but it was held up as the administration failed to provide a satisfactory answer to queries about the high cost.

The private company quoted Rs 6,300 per tonne for sweeping, collection, lifting and transportation of garbage, while Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited of Hyderabad, the current contractor, is paid Rs 2,141 per metric tonne.

"The civic administration has till December 15 to consult with the government and suitably reply to the queries of the municipal council," municipal commissioner Bikash Ranjan Mohapatra said.

"In view of the Swachh Bharat Mission and requirement of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, the scope of work has become wider, involving sophisticated technology that incurs high expenditure," said a member of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation's standing committee for licence, appeals and contracts.

"Besides, there has also a been hike in minimum wages, cost of conservancy articles, fuel, equipment or machinery," he said.

The nod, followed by government clearance, assumes significance as this is the civic body's second attempt to complete the project tender. Earlier, Orissa High Court had quashed the previous tender process and asked the civic body to invite fresh tenders with reasonable financial eligibility criteria for bidders..