VIJAYAWADA: Even though the State government issued the reverse tendering notification for Polavaram Irrigation Project, scheduling the bidding from August 22, the process has not begun yet.
With the government releasing a single notification for irrigation and hydel power works and with the High Court ordering suspension of re-tendering for power plant, water resources officials are awaiting a communication from the energy department regarding the future course of action in this regard.
CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who returned from his week-long US trip on Saturday, immediately held an informal meeting in the evening with officials to take stock of the latest developments. “The CM was apprised of the turn of events, including the interim suspension of APGENCO’s order to terminate Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd’s contract for power plant execution. We are awaiting energy department’s response to the order so that a call could be taken on whether or not we could proceed with tendering for irrigation works. For now, the bidding hasn’t begun,” a senior official told TNIE.
As per the notification issued on August 17, the bidding was scheduled to begin on August 22 and continue till September 19. The reverse bidding was to be held on September 27. While irrigation work is worth Rs 1771.44 crore, the hydel power work is estimated to cost Rs 3,216,11 crore. The government wants to have a new contractor on board by October so that the project works, stopped due to flooding, could resume by November 1.
With the department already losing a few days, it is said that the tender schedule would be reworked. Another reason is the delay in making the e-procurement website ready for reverse bidding/auction. “The website has to be readied to support e-auction. The work is underway and we expect it to be ready in a few days,” the official explained.
Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar said that the government will take a call as to whether to issue a new tender or not. “The High Court issued interim suspension only on hydel power project. We are discussing with our legal team whether we have to separate the irrigation and the power plant works or we need to approach the court to go ahead with the notification. We will take a call in a day or two as the CM is back,” he said.
Responding to the Polavaram Project Authority’s report submitted to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, the Water Resources Minister said, “We will take into consideration all the aspects raised by the authority and the Centre. We are only trying to bring in transparency. It may be a national project, but the onus of ensuring irregularity-free execution is on the State government,” he said.
On Friday, the PPA submitted a report to the Union ministry observing that the State’s move could escalate project’s cost, besides delaying its execution. Later, the minister also brushed aside the objections of the BJP to the YSRC government’s move to cancel contracts, saying, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself said Chandrababu Naidu used Polavaram project as an ATM. Shouldn’t we rectify those irregularities now?”