VIJAYAWADA: The State government has set an ambitious target of completing the major portion of civil works related to Polavaram project by the end of 2019, and it is in the process of pulling out all the stops to expedite the construction. In this direction, the government is planning to write to the Union Ministry of Water Resources, recommending the transfer of earth-cum-rock fill (ECRF) dam, upper and lower cofferdam works of the national project from Transstroy (India) Ltd to Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd (NECL).
With the main contractor -- Transstroy (India) Ltd -- failing to meet the expectations of the State government, which, according to the officials, is resulting in inordinate delay in the execution of works, the water resources department has decided to invoke Section 60C of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) agreement. A senior official privy to the matter told TNIE: “The proposal has not been finalised yet, but we are considering the transfer of ECRF dam, and upper and lower cofferdam works to NECL.
Transstroy has been unresponsive for the last two months. Neither was it able to do any work on site, nor was it able to mobilise machinery for the major works set to begin from November. So, we are planning to recommend the change of contractor as per the provisions available in the agreement.”
The Chief Engineer of the Polavaram project, V Sridhar, also confirmed the same, and added that the final decision -- on what packages of work to be given to NECL -- would be taken in a day or two.
It may be recalled that the spillway and spill channel works worth `2,900 crore of the national project were reassigned to NECL from the main contractor in January this year in the same manner. Now, the department is mulling entrusting the NECL with another `1,200 crore worth works.
But, will it be easy for changing the contractor as the issue is under the purview of the Union Ministry of Water Resources? For the record, it was Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari who had intervened in ensuring smooth transition of works between the executing agencies.
“This is a critical period as we have a deadline to meet. Since the existing contractor is failing to execute the project, we are looking for an alternative. The Union ministry had in the past agreed to the transfer of works. We have already intimated the ministry about the poor progress due to Transstroy’s inabilities. We will shortly make a recommendation regarding transfer of works, and we hope it would not object to it,” another official explained.
The Chief Engineer of the Polavaram project, V Sridhar, also confirmed the same, and added that the final decision -- on what packages of work to be given to NECL -- would be taken in a day or two.
It may be recalled that the spillway and spill channel works worth `2,900 crore of the national project were reassigned to NECL from the main contractor in January this year in the same manner. Now, the department is mulling entrusting the NECL with another `1,200 crore worth works.
But, will it be easy for changing the contractor as the issue is under the purview of the Union Ministry of Water Resources? For the record, it was Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari who had intervened in ensuring smooth transition of works between the executing agencies.
“This is a critical period as we have a deadline to meet. Since the existing contractor is failing to execute the project, we are looking for an alternative. The Union ministry had in the past agreed to the transfer of works. We have already intimated the ministry about the poor progress due to Transstroy’s inabilities. We will shortly make a recommendation regarding transfer of works, and we hope it would not object to it,” another official explained.