Continuing his reverse tendering mission, YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has decided to terminate the present contract for Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi works and go in for reverse tendering.
The contract for the works on Galeru-Nagari phase-II were awarded to Ritwik Projects promoted for Rajya Sabha member C M Ramesh, who had recently defected from Telugu Desam Party to Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Jagan government has apparently found that the contract was awarded to Ramesh’s firm by the then Chandrababu Naidu government just before the issuance of election notification, by bringing pressure on the irrigation department.
The works under second phase pertaining to two packages of constructing the main canal, worth a total of nearly Rs 180 crore.
The YSRC had alleged that the Naidu government had forced the existing contract to step down and called for fresh tenders on February 11 under lump sum (LS) method for Rs 391.31 crore.
While four companies had submitted the bids, the Naidu government had disqualified two of them despite having required qualifications.
Of the remaining two contracting firms – NCC and Ritwik, the government managed to see that NCC quoted higher than Ritwik, so that the latter would emerge as L-1 (Lowest tenderer) and grab the contract for Rs 406.73 crore.
The Jagan government now feels that had the tenders been called for in a normal method, the contract would have been awarded for at least 10 per cent lesser rate. It would have resulted in a saving of Rs 54.74 crore.
“By going in for reverse tendering, the government could save huge money,” an official said.
