Union Minister for Water Resources Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday the Central government would extend all support to Andhra Pradesh to complete the Polavaram Project before the end of 2019.
The Minister spoke briefly to the media after meeting Andhra Pradesh Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Irrigation Secretary Shashi Bhushan Kumar and engineers of the State Water Resources Department in New Delhi. The prime objective of the meeting was to take a decision on the escalation of project cost and changing of the primary contractor, Transstroy.
Mr. Gadkari said it was the desire of the Andhra Pradesh government to finish the project by 2019 and the Centre would extend all support to it.
When asked if Transstroy would be changed, Mr. Gadkari merely said it was an “administrative matter”.
According to sources, he said another meeting would be held with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and himself to take a decision on the cost escalation particularly for the implementation of the relief and rehabilitation as per the 2013 Land Acquisition Act.
The Union Minister reiterated that the cost would shoot up if the contractor was changed now.
One of the sub-contractors complained to the Union Minister that payments were not being made properly by Transstroy.
The Union Minister assured the sub-contractors that payments would be made from an escrow account directly by the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) and the Union Water Resources Ministry.
Mr. Gadkari asked the State government to monitor the progress of work on a daily basis and ensure that the daily targets were met. He said land acquisition and R&R should be dealt with separately.
He urged the State to come out with alternative solutions to the problems plaguing the project.