Andhra CM releases white paper on Polavaram project, international experts to visit site
Andhra CM releases white paper on Polavaram project, international experts to visit site
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on June 28 released a white paper on the Polavaram irrigation project being built on the Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh.
CM Naidu accused the previous state government of damaging the project and highlighted that international experts from the United States will be reviewing the project in the first week of July.
"Polavaram is a central government project. The YSRCP called for reverse tendering for the Polavaram project on the day he assumed charge...The cofferdam and diaphragm walls were damaged...Until the diaphragm wall is completed, we cannot construct the ECRF. Gap 1 was washed away for 150 meters due to the Godavari floods... No compensations were paid to the victims...International experts from the USA will check the project in the first week of July," Naidu said on June 28.
A report by the Hindustan Times stated that the Central government has roped in international irrigation experts from the US and Canada to study the extent of the damage.
The report added that the experts David B Paul and Gias Franco de Cisco from the United States and Richard Donnelly and Seas Hinsberger from Canada would proceed to the site on June 29, after holding talks with officials of the Jal Sakthi Ministry and the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA).
On June 25, moneycontrol had reported that the state government will submit a report on inflation-adjusted costs to the Union Finance Ministry, seeking Central support to restart the development of the proposed state capital of Amaravati and the Polavaram irrigation project.
"A revised detailed project report is being prepared. The rates between 2014 and 2019 will change, and after calculating all estimates, the extent of the financial assistance from the Centre will be known, after which the proposal will be submitted to them," a person aware of the matter told moneycontrol.