India, July 23 -- In what is perhaps a first for the BEST Undertaking, it is set to outsource the maintenance of its 80-year-old underground power cable network in Mumbai to a third party. BEST sources said that the tender to appoint a contractor would soon be floated. The tender is expected to be for a period of two to three years.

The move comes as the undertaking struggles with an acute manpower shortage and an increasing number of cable faults, particularly in the island city. The outsourcing of maintenance and repair works is expected to be primarily for wards A, B, C, D and E and places such as Girgaum, Bhuleshwar and Kalbadevi which suffered power cuts this summer. The authorities received 2,500-odd complaints of power outages fro...