Andhra Pradesh: Tenders for sand mines held transparently, clarifies Gopala Krishna Dwivedi

Andhra Pradesh State Panchayati Raj and Chief Secretary of the Department of Mines Gopala Krishna Dwivedi said the people would benefit from the new sand policy introduced by the state government. He said people could look for the quality and can take sand in their own vehicle from any Reich. Dwivedi was speaking at a media conference held at the Amaravati Secretariat. He said sand reichs across the state will have the same price and can be purchased directly without online registration.

Dwivedi said that seven companies have been consulted on sand mining but those companies have not come forward. An agreement was reached with MSTC on January 4 for the tender process, which was transparent. Opposition parties have blamed the government for tying up the sand supply to a private company. In this context, Dwivedi arranged a media conference and revealed the details.

Jaya Prakash Power Ventures Limited, a private company part of the Jaypee Group, has won tenders for sand mining, storage and sale across the state. The district Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari are divided into Zone-1, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts into Zone-2 and Nellore and Rayalaseema districts into Zone-3. Of these, a total of 471 reichs have been entrusted with the task of conducting tenders for sand excavation and sale for two years to the Central Government Agency, MSTC.

He said that 5 private companies submitted bids in the tender process conducted by that company. Of these, Jayaprakash Power quoted Rs 477.5 crore in Package-1, Rs 745.7 crore in Package-2 and Rs 305.6 crore in Package-3 (total Rs 1,528 crore). With this, three packages were finalized for the company. The company will start excavating and selling sand in the state from April 1.