The decision of the YSR Congress party government in Andhra Pradesh headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to go in for reverse tendering for Polavaram irrigation project’s head works and also for the hydro-power station has saved Rs 628 crore for the government.
The tenders were opened on Monday and only one firm – Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) took part in the reverse tendering.
According to official sources, Megha has quoted Rs 4,358 crore for the execution of both the works – main dam as well as hydel project, for which the state irrigation department called for tenders at a basic price of Rs 4,987 crore.
Thus, Megha has quoted -12.6 per cent less than the actual bid price, which was the price for which the previous contractor Navayuga Engineering Company Limited had been given the contract.
“The contract will be awared soon after obtaining the approvals from the court, in which the case filed by Navayuga is pending,” official sources said.
The Jagan government had earlier claimed that it would save at least Rs 500 crore through reverse tendering of works of Polavaram project.
Now that it is going to save Rs 628 crore, it will be a big victory for Jagan, who has been alleging that large scale corruption had taken place during the previous Telugu Desam Party government, which awarded the contract on lump sum basis without calling for any tenders.