Leading firms that have bagged consultancy for infrastructure, mobility and development initiatives in the State are likely to come under scanner in the wake of the controversy over the awarding of consultancies for the e-mobility and Space Park projects.
Close on the heels of the steps initiated to terminate PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited (PwCPL) from the consultancy service for the proposed Space Park, the government is learnt to be planning to end the services of the firm for the e-mobility project.
The PwCPL has been tasked with preparing a Detailed Project Report on electric vehicle manufacturing as part of a ₹4,500-crore e-mobility project to put one million electric vehicles on the road by 2022.
Official sources said the agreement is yet to be inked with the government as the firm had not returned the pact for vetting.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Saturday that he was not “aware of the move to remove the consultancy firm from the e-mobilty project.”
Notice served
The Kerala State IT Infrastructure Ltd (KSITL), entrusted with the Space Park, has served a notice on PwCPL, which is the first step of contract termination. Swapna Suresh, second accused in a gold smuggling case, was appointed as operations manager for the project through PwCPL. Although PwCPL sub-contracted her from Vision Technologies, the government is of the view of that onus of recruiting was on the PwCPL.
With a controversy brewing over her recruitment and inadequate educational qualification, the government is thinking of showing the door to PwCPL. The awarding of consultancies will be scrutinised in the wake of allegations of lack of transparency and undue haste.
The other version
However, some experts said that if leading consultancy firms are kept out, government institutions would not be able to draw upon the expertise and human resource of these firms and to utilise their ability to reach out to international agencies and research institutions.
They cited the case of KPMG, an international consultancy entrusted with assisting the State government in the Rebuild Kerala Initiative after two successive floods, that played a major role in the State getting $450 million from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies.
