The Andhra Pradesh government is thinking of ways circumventing the problem it was facing with the prime contractor of the Polavaram project. The government took a decision to terminate its contract with Transstroy and call for fresh tenders and the same was discussed in the Cabinet.
But the State government’s trajectory to remove Transstroy was cut short by none other than Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari. In an informal chat with the media in New Delhi, the Union Minister said that the cost of the project would go up by nearly 20 % if the contractor was changed.
Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao told The Hindu that Transstroy quoted 14% less at the time of tendering.
While it was very unlikely that the new contractor would quote 14% less, it was being expected that the new contractor would quote an additional 5 % keeping in the mind the tight deadlines set by the A.P. government.
“We are looking into the possibility of dividing the work into several parts to get it done as per schedule,” Mr .Umamaheswara Rao said.
Engineers for new approach
Irrigation engineers however feel that the entire project schedule might fall through if the State government, which was executing it, was not given the required freedom. Some of the most sophisticated excavation and building equipment was being used at the Polavaram dam site. There is no provision in the Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR) by which payments are made by the Central government, they say in support of their argument.
The engineers also say that the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract system is not practical for huge projects such as Polavaram. There was often escalation of cost because of a change in designs.
The designs used for tendering were usually rejected by the Central Water Commission (CWC), the final approving authority. A whole new procedure needs to be developed for large projects, they say.
