No timeline for completion can be given before ascertaining damage done to the Polavaram project in the last five years, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said on Monday.
Speaking to newspersons after his maiden visit to the project site in Polavaram, Naidu said there were four damaged portions on the diaphragm wall, which was damaged in August 2020.
According to him, repairing these portions by constructing D-walls alone would cost ₹447 crore if it could be confirmed as a workable solution which is yet to be done. A new diaphragm wall would cost ₹990 crore.
“Officials say a minimum of four seasons (years) are required to complete the project, but it all depends on ifs and buts. We need to ascertain the situation,” he said.
The TDP government spent about ₹440 crore to construct the diaphragm wall and the 2019-20 floods damaged 35 per cent of it. About 70 per cent of the project was completed during the TDP government between 2014 and 2019, “Had the works not been suspended for over a year on account of reverse tendering, change of contactor, etc, by the YSRCP government, the Polavaram project would have been completed by now,’‘ he said.
A global consultant, AFRY India has been recommended by the Central Water Commission (CWC) to study the damage and suggest a way out, Naidu said.