SMC to buy annual steel requirement in one month

Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has decided to purchase 2,120 metric tonne of steel from the Mumbai-based Guardian Steel Company. Nothing special, only this is the annual requirement of the Corporation that it would buy in one month.

The SMC Standing Committee has already passed a resolution to this effect. "We have decided to purchase 2,120 metric tonne of steel worth over Rs 5 crore within one month as the Guardian Steel Company is offering this at a discount of Rs 4,000 per metric tonne", said standing committee chairman Shaker Chevli.

The prevailing market price of steel is Rs 28,000 per metric tonne. But as per the agreement entered into with Guardian, the SMC would purchase the 2,120 metric tonne with a discount of Rs 4,000 per metric tonne.

According to sources, the SMC had opted for such a measure to make use of the huge budgetary allocations for capital works accumulated for the last five years.

In the original proposal in the current year's Budget, SMC had made an allocation of Rs 315 crore for capital works.

However, in the revised Budget, this was slashed by Rs. 91 crore to Rs. 224 crore. Even after scaling down, the SMC could actually spend only Rs. 96 crore till February 15. With hardly 45 days left in the current fiscal, it is next to impossible to spend the remaining Rs 120 crore.