VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said that the commitment given by Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari over the completion of Polavaram project is a good sign for the people of Andhra Pradesh.Speaking to newsmen at Gannavaram airport after returning from New Delhi on Thursday, the Chief Minister said he felt distressed after the Union Water Resources department’s missive to the State government asking it to stall the process of calling tenders for spillway and spill channel works of the project.
“Though the State government’s intention was to expedite the works by removing some portion of works from the main contracting agency under 60 (C) to another contractor by calling fresh tenders, the letter from the Centre ordering to stall the tenders made us annoyed at that time,” he said.“However, we are confident of meeting the deadline with Gadkari clarifying that the Centre will extend all support to the State for the completion of the project by 2018 and in case of any delay by 2019 after the lengthy meeting on Wednesday,” the Chief Minister said.
He said that Gadkari also informed to change the main contracting agency Transstroy if it failed to fastrack the works within a month. “After the meeting, my confidence of completing the Polavaram project has increased,” the said.
Stating that he had already directed the officials to keep all the details of the expenditure made on Polavaram project online, the Chief Minister said at least now, those demanding white paper on the project should stop creating hurdles to the project.“Even if we spent G10 on the project today, the officials will upload the same online. Similarly, we will also upload the progress of the project works with pictures time-to-time,” the Chief Minister said.