Tenders to be invited this week

Amaravati: Water resources department is going to issue tenders for construction another new barrage across river Krishna at Vykuntapuram village in Guntur district.

A senior official  of the department told The Hans India that tender notice would be issued on July 6 or 7 inviting bids for proposed barrage at Vykuntapuram. He said that the chief engineer of Central Designing Organisation (CDO) gave 80 per cent of designs for the barrage on Monday and would submit final designs by Tuesday.

The water resources department is working on a war footing  to complete the prior process to issue tenders, including preparing designs, preparing estimations etc,   as “We have tremendous pressure  from the government over the barrage issue.

We have given informal directions to complete the tenders’ procedure on a war footing,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity. During the Polavaram review meeting with Chief Minister on Monday, the officials were asked on the status of procedure of Vykuntapuram barrage. “If we receive final design on July 3, we will issue tender notice mostly on July 6. We are working day and night to complete the process,” the senior officer said.

The government gave administration sanction for the Vyakuntapurm barrage on June 8. The barrage has been proposed to serve the drinking water needs of new capital city Amaravati. It will have a storage capacity of 10 tmc ft, in addition to the 3 tmc ft at Prakasam barrage in Vijayawada.

The Vykuntapuram barrage will serve the population, which is projected to touch 35 lakh by the year of 2050 in Amaravati. It is estimated that around 900 MLD (million litre a day) of water could be required for domestic, industrial and other purposes in new capital city in the coming 30 years.

The water resources department has given administration sanction for Rs 2,169 crore for construction Vykuntapuram barrage. The barrage will come up exactly on River Krishna, 23 km upstream of existing Prakasam barrage at Vykuntapuram village of Amaravati mandal in Guntrur district.