The last date for opening the tenders of the controversial Polavaram spillway concrete work has been postponed by yet another week.
Polavaram Irrigation Project chief engineer V. Ramesh Babu told The Hindu that the last date, which ended on Thursday midnight, had been extended by another week.
A fresh notification had to be issued, he added.
Meanwhile, Navayuga Engineering Company Limited (NECL), the flagship company of the Navayuga Group, which is known for developing the Krishnapatnam Port, constructing roads and bridges, power units, lift irrigation projects, and mass transit systems, has written a letter to Engineer-in-Chief M. Venkateswara Rao, saying it is ready to execute the work at the rates awarded to Transstroy. Despite the offer, the State government has apparently decided to extend the time for filing the tenders by a week.
The A.P. Water Resources Engineer-in-Chief had first issued the tender notice for the spillway and spill channel concrete work on November 16, 2017, under Section 60 C of the EPC agreement with Transstroy.
Fresh tenders could be notified under the Section when the contractor had failed to perform.
The State government said it had to do this because the prime contractor was unable to meet the targets and was delaying the work.
The tender notification issued by the government, however, turned controversial when the Union Water Resources Ministry raised several objections in response to a petition by Transstroy.
Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari, in a via-media solution, gave Transstroy one month to improve its performance.
But when the contractor failed to rise to the occasion, the Centre had no option but to give the State the permission to call for fresh tenders.
PPA advice
Under the advice of the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), the last date was extended to January 18, that is two months after the first notification.
Just a day before opening the tenders, the NECL has written the letter offering to work at the old rate, allaying the fears of cost escalation.
The Water Resources Department sources said Transstroy too seemed to be interested in working with Navayuga. Not opening the bids might not auger well with the other contractors who filed tenders, sources said. The best bid is being expected from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which had built the Pattiseema and the Purushottapatnam LI Schemes, and the Muchumarri scheme, which was part of the Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanthi (HSS), in a record time.
