Within a week of Mayawati laying the foundation, the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) and Lucknow Municipal Corporation (LMC) have started the process of issuing contracts for over a dozen projects, giving bidders just seven days to submit quotations.

On February 5, Mayawati had laid the foundation of 39 projects for Lucknow. Many of these projects are to be developed by the LDA and the LMC. Some had been languishing for long.

Now, suddenly, both agencies seem to be burning midnight oil, formulating a tight timetable for obtaining and processing of tenders.

The projects for which the LDA has floated tenders include a multi-level parking in Hazratganj, underground parkings at Bhootnath M arket, Chandra Shekhar Azad park in Mahanagar and Chandan Nagar in Alambagh; foot overbridges at Jawahar Bhawan, Alambagh and Transport Nagar; Gautam Buddha Shanti Upwan in Sector-H of the Kanpur Road scheme, development of the park adjacent to Qila Bijli Pasi.

The development agency floated tenders for these projects, costing over Rs 132 crore, on Thursday and set the February 19 deadline for receiving the tenders.

The bids will be opened the same day. The LDA officials said normally, the bidders are given 15 days for submitting their quotations. If the work is urgent, the time is reduced to one week.

LDA Vice-Chairman Mukesh Kumar Meshram, however, said: “There is no minimum time limit for inviting tenders in the rule book. Tender information of these projects has been advertised outside the state too, so more and more bidders could be informed. So a week’s time is sufficient.”

On the same lines, the LMC floated tenders for Kanha Upwan, which is a park for stray animals, and a shooting range of international standards on February 10. The Corporation also asked the bidders to submit their offers by

February 17, which will be opened on February 20. Both projects will cost an estimated Rs 9.50 crore.

Kanha Upwan was conceived more than two years ago and Mayor Dinesh Sharma even laid its foundation, but the work did not proceed beyond building a boundary wall.