<p>The BBMP on Friday floated tenders for the procurement of 51 sweeping machines at an estimated cost of Rs 84 crore. The project is being taken up from funds from various grants, including the state government’s Shubra Bengaluru, Chief Minister’s Nava Nagarothana programme and Centre’s 15th Finance Commission. </p>.<p>According to the BBMP’s estimates, each machine is estimated to cost Rs 1.64 crore. The operations and maintenance (O&M) cost is expected to be Rs 3.50 lakh per month per vehicle. </p>.<p>As the market is filled with different types of sweeping machines, the city civic body has not specified a certain technology, be it self-propelled machines or truck-mounted ones. “We have not fixed any specifications. The machines should be capable of sweeping 40 km within a span of eight hours,” a senior BBMP official said. </p>.<p>In the past, the BBMP had made many attempts to procure sweeping machines but the plan did not take off due to confusion over the choice of machine. </p>.<p>At present, the BBMP has 26 sweeping machines but the public do not have access to the roads that are swept by these vehicles. These machines, officials said, have been handed over to all the eight zones. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Five water sprinklers</strong></p>.<p>The BBMP has also come up with a proposal of procuring five truck-mounted water sprinkler machines (minimum 10,000 litres water tank capacity) at a cost of Rs 4.60 crore. It plans to spend another Rs 1.58 lakh per year towards operation and maintenance of these vehicles. However, questions have been raised over the necessity of such vehicles when the city does not have motorable roads across all zones. The BBMP already owns eight vehicles, which have not been put to optimum use.</p>
<p>The BBMP on Friday floated tenders for the procurement of 51 sweeping machines at an estimated cost of Rs 84 crore. The project is being taken up from funds from various grants, including the state government’s Shubra Bengaluru, Chief Minister’s Nava Nagarothana programme and Centre’s 15th Finance Commission. </p>.<p>According to the BBMP’s estimates, each machine is estimated to cost Rs 1.64 crore. The operations and maintenance (O&M) cost is expected to be Rs 3.50 lakh per month per vehicle. </p>.<p>As the market is filled with different types of sweeping machines, the city civic body has not specified a certain technology, be it self-propelled machines or truck-mounted ones. “We have not fixed any specifications. The machines should be capable of sweeping 40 km within a span of eight hours,” a senior BBMP official said. </p>.<p>In the past, the BBMP had made many attempts to procure sweeping machines but the plan did not take off due to confusion over the choice of machine. </p>.<p>At present, the BBMP has 26 sweeping machines but the public do not have access to the roads that are swept by these vehicles. These machines, officials said, have been handed over to all the eight zones. </p>.<p class="CrossHead"><strong>Five water sprinklers</strong></p>.<p>The BBMP has also come up with a proposal of procuring five truck-mounted water sprinkler machines (minimum 10,000 litres water tank capacity) at a cost of Rs 4.60 crore. It plans to spend another Rs 1.58 lakh per year towards operation and maintenance of these vehicles. However, questions have been raised over the necessity of such vehicles when the city does not have motorable roads across all zones. The BBMP already owns eight vehicles, which have not been put to optimum use.</p>