Political controversy returned to the Polavaram tenders once again with ministers Danam Nagender and M. Mukesh Goud criticising the government for qualifying the Soma-CGGC (China Gezhouba Group Company) joint venture. The two ministers met Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday and demanding that the tenders be scrapped, claimed that the state would lose Rs 800 crore if the bids were approved in their present form.
Major irrigation minister A. Sudarshan Reddy reacted cautiously and said no final decision had been taken on awarding the contract. Sources told this newspaper that the ministers were upset with the Chief Minister for not objecting to the Soma JV, a company which they view as a Telugu Desam sympathiser. “There is a clear understanding among the three major political players including the Telugu Desam, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and our bosses,” a minister said. A minister had even lobbied with the government as well as rival contractors in support of a company that was earlier a JV partner of SEW and had bid on its own in the fresh round of tenders.
Speaking to mediapersons, the two ministers complained against irrigation officials for allegedly ignoring the joint venture’s flaws like submitting a solvency certificate issued by a Chinese bank instead of domestic national banks. They also attacked the finance department for sitting on the proposal to arrange funds for the Krishna Phase III project to meet the city’s drinking water needs. “How will the finance department approve awarding the Polavaram contract to Soma JV when there is huge loss of public money?” they asked.