The three-member State government-appointed committee on the Polavaram project headed by Engineer-in-Chief M. Venkateswara Rao discussed the tendering process, cost escalation, and outsourcing of a few packages under Section 60 C in a meeting here on Sunday ahead of Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s visit on December 22.
The panel also reportedly deliberated on certain doubts raised by a committee of the National Hydro Power Corporation with regard to the construction of the cofferdam and the spillway.
The State committee is learnt to have focused on the proposal to raise the height of the cofferdam in order to supply water through gravity by the year 2018.
Other issues to be taken to the notice of the Polavaram Project Authority were dwelt upon by the committee in the context of Mr. Gadkari seeking an overall status report.
Representatives of Transstroy took part in the conference.
The committee met Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and apprised him of the situation vis-a-vis the constant monitoring being done by the officials of the Central government and the compliances to be made by the State.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is visiting the project on December 11 as part of his regular inspection.
He will obtain a first-hand account of the progress of works against the backdrop of severe criticism that was made by the YSR Congress Party and demand by Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan to release a White Paper on the issue. The BJP too had cast its aspersions on the project.
