The Andhra Pradesh government awarded the key works of the Polavaram irrigation and hydel project worth Rs 4,359 crore to Megha Engineering and Infrastructures (MEIL) on Monday. MEIL was the sole bidder in the reverse tender after the original award by the previous government was cancelled.
The YSR Congress had alleged large scale irregularities in the awarding of contracts by the previous N Chandrababu Naidu regime and cancelled several projects running into thousands of crores, including the Polavaram project.
MEIL emerged the sole bidder in the reverse tender which called for Rs 4,987 crore of main concrete works and the hydel power plant. The YS Jaganmohan Reddy government held parley with legal experts before taking a call on whether to accept the single bid, which would go against established practices, or go in for fresh tenders, further delaying the project.
Megha Engineering has submitted its bid at 12.6% less than the base price stipulated, which is a saving of more than Rs 628 crore for the government,” irrigation secretary, Aditya Nath Das
The government order for the reverse tender stipulated at least two bidders to conduct the process. There is no provision to initiate a reverse tendering process in case of a single bidder.
As the bid value is less than the estimated cost value, it may be appropriate to award the contract to Megha Engineering and Infrastructures considering the current status of the project works and to expedite work,” the chief engineer of the Polavaram project said in a report to the government.