According to the report, the civic body received Rs 1.42 lakh from the two projects in the last eight years (2001 to 2008) instead of Rs 15.59 lakh — five per cent of the total revenue earned from these projects as mentioned in the agreement. This despite the projected share of the KMC, which had invested Rs 29.98 crore in these projects, was pegged at Rs 2.03 crore, the report says.

Significantly, during the same period Simplex Project Ltd collected around Rs 3.12 crore and made a total profit of Rs 5.34 crore.

Sahidul Islam, Joint Commissioner, PPP cell, however, has a reason to defend KMC’s inability to get higher returns. “We are supposed to get five per cent of the total revenue earned from the two Parkomats monthly. Since we have not yet been able to implement the parking ban near the two projects we are suffering losses,” said Islam. The KMC records reveal that the Parkomat plots at Rawdon Street and Lindsay Street are worth Rs 6.26 crore and Rs 20.72 crore, respectively. The report says that the annual revenue earned by the KMC from the two sites prior to the projects was Rs 28.70 lakh. But it seems that the two Parkomats neither served the purpose of decongesting the traffic nor has helped the civic body to generate a good amount of revenue.

In addition to this, in 2000 the then Mayor ordered preparation of a supplementary agreement that made way for providing an advance of Rs 3 crore to the developer. But as per the norms in a Build Operate Own Transfer (BOOT) agreement, no extra financial aid should be given by the KMC. Moreover, no approval from the Board of Councillors was taken prior to the execution of the supplementary agreement.

On the other hand, Simplex Project Ltd said that they are not supposed to return the loan to the KMC directly. “Since there is no commercial link with the Parkomat at Rawdon Street, the stand alone Parkomat is not at all economically viable. So, the loan can be refunded, as per the agreement, through some other projects of the KMC,” said Gautam Dasgupta, Deputy General Manager, Simplex Project Ltd.

However, records reveal that the developer had assured that both the Parkomats would be financially viable and was also granted the advertising rights within the Parkomat. Moreover, the report finds fault in the KMC not stipulating any time limit for repayment of the loan.