VIJAYAWADA: The launch of Vykuntapuram Barrage works is set to be delayed once again as no contracting agency has participated in the bidding process even after the Water Resources department invited tenders for the third time.
With this, the officials are in the process of exploring alternatives to have bids filed the next time the tenders are floated. After the government had given administrative sanction to build a barrage, with a storage capacity of 10 tmc, in June this year, the department floated tenders in July. As no bids were filed, the department revised the Internal Benchmark (IBM) value from Rs 898 crore to Rs 1,025 crore as per the new Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR) and reinvited the tenders. Even then, no bids were filed. Subsequently, the officials once again invited tenders last month.
“No bids were filed by the contracting agencies even for the third time. The cost seems to be an issue for the contractors as project execution on riverbed is complex. So, we are exploring alternatives, including relaxing the ceiling of five per cent on the contract value so that the contractors can quote higher,” an official explained. However, the officials quickly added that the contract value will not be revised anymore. The official noted that the department had formed a committee to examine the nature of work after a contractor raised an issue with the design of the barrage.
Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao told TNIE that a meeting would be convened shortly with the officials concerned to resolve the issue. He added that the department intended to complete the tender process in the next couple of months. According to the minister, the government was targeting to complete the project in a year.