Centre bends, AP gets nod for Polavaram re-tenders

New Delhi/Amaravati: The Centre has finally succumbed to the pressure of TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and given permission to him to delink major works of spillway headworks and channel works from Transstroy and call for fresh tenders to complete them on fast-track mode.

A meeting called for by the Union Ministry of Water Resources here on Friday cleared almost all the hurdles for the speedy execution of the Polavaram Project and gave a green signal for the re-tendering of the cofferdam and other concrete works. This in effect would pave the way for the faster completion of the dam works that were held up due to various technical objections so far.

The meeting which was attended by the officials of the Dam Designing Committee and Central Water Commission. Setting aside the earlier 'Stop-Work Order' issued by then Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources Amarjit Singh, the meeting suggested that the works should be undertaken without further delay and has informed the Polavaram Authority to do the needful.

The meeting which considered the report of the National Hydro Power Corporation Committee which suggested alternatives to the cofferdam and rejected the same as those were found not viable. As for the height of the dam, it was conveyed that a decision on it would also be known to the State Water Resources Secretary.

Further, execution of the project and the tendering process and other related processes should be under the control and supervision of the Polavaram Project Authority, the meeting decided. This brings to an end all uncertainty over the project completion which was looming large on the state government.

The state government had been urging the Centre to consider its recent proposals afresh to stick to the time table as the project works had run aground due to unforeseen problems like the inexperience of the primary contractor, Transstroy, and its inability to execute the works.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had repeatedly written to the Centre and held several meetings with Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari of late to resolve the issue. The Centre which was initially reluctant to consider the pleas having handed over the execution of the project to the state government reportedly at the behest of the Niti Aayog, finally relented having realized that any stalling of the work would boomerang on it too just as it would affect the state government's image.

The project was declared as a national project and is the responsibility of the Centre. The project was expected to be completed by 2018 but now the deadline has already rolled on to the next year.

Extensive discussions were witnessed in the meeting, which has decided to go for an independent upstream cofferdam as per the original DPR,” engineer-in-chief M Venkateshwara Rao, who participated in the meeting, told The Hans India. The AP officials did not agree to the proposal of NHPC on reducing the flood diversion capacity from original 28 lakh cusecs to 23 lakh cusecs.

“Even the review penal also said as Godavari is a mighty river and 28 lakh cusecs of water is common there,” Venkateshwara Rao said. He also said they could start upstream cofferdam work after they would be given written orders from the Centre. He also said they were waiting for the orders from the Polavaram Project Authority to go forward on tenders to select new subcontractor.