White Paper on Polavaram: Rs 12,157 Cr needed to finish Phase 1 works, says CM Naidu

Amaravati: “Had the executing agency not been changed and had the project planning been proper, the Polavaram Irrigation Project would have been completed in time to release water for Kharif 2020. Due to inefficient planning and unnecessary changes to the executing agency, the project was delayed,” said chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu.

In Vijayawada on Friday, CM Chandrababu released a White Paper on the Polavaram Project.

According to CM Chandrababu, Rs 12,157 crores will most likely be the cost of completion of balance works of Phase I of the project.

“Entire construction of the main dam works is programmed to be completed in four years including Left and Right connectivities and the balance works of Right Main Canal and Left Main Canal and the rest of the components,” said Naidu.

The development comes days after CM Chandrababu Naidu visited the Polavaram site on June 17 and inspected the project works. He appealed to the Centre to facilitate the visit of international experts to study the structural deficiencies in the works in the last five years.

He claimed that the project which was completed up to 72 per cent under his regime between 2014 and 2019 had only witnessed four per cent progress in civil works in the last five years under the YSRCP government.

What is the Polavaram Irrigation Project and its purpose?

Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) is a Multipurpose Terminal Reservoir Project on the River Godavari, near Ramayyapeta Village in Polavaram Mandal of Eluru District. It is 42 km upstream of Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage at Dowleswaram, considered the lifeline of the Andhra Pradesh.

Through Polavaram, 80 TMC of water is diverted to the Krishna River basin to be shared between Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra in the ratio of 45 TMC, 21 TMC, and 14 TMC respectively. Odisha and Chhattisgarh can utilise 5 TMC and 1.5 TMC of water respectively from the backwaters of the reservoir.

According to the CM, the mega irrigation project can store 194 tmc water, enable the utilisation of 322 tmc water, irrigate 7.2 lakh acres, offer drinking water to 28.5 lakh people and generate 960 MW of hydropower.

The origins of Polavaram

Preliminary investigation was carried out during 1942-1944. Proposals with a Full Reservoir Level ranging from +170 ft to +208 ft with a storage capacity ranging from 340 TMC to 700 TMC were examined.

Thirteen possible sites were investigated and finally, the alignment of the Sri Ramapada Sagar site was selected. In due course, the Sri Ramapada Sagar Project was renamed the Indira Sagar Polavaram Project and later renamed the Polavaram Irrigation Project.

In 2014, the State of Andhra Pradesh was divided into two States and the Government of India, recognising the importance of the Polavaram Irrigation Project, declared it a National Project.

According to Naidu, there was a drastic decrease in budgetary support to the project by the Government of AP during 2019-24 – during the previous YSRCP regime – when compared to 2014-19 during the TDP regime. In fact, the expenditure incurred on the project for the work done during the period from 2019-24 was Rs 4,167.53 crores.

The CM observed that the earlier TDP regime had spent Rs 11,762 crore and asserted that the YSRCP government had expended only Rs 4,167 crore on the project.

“There is also no tangible action regarding resolving sharing disputes with Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana and getting approval for the second Revised Cost Estimate (at 2017-18 price level),” said CM Chandrababu Naidu.

Polavaram saw poor progress during the YSRCP regime, says Naidu

Due to the failure to take timely actions like closing the gaps in the upstream coffer dam (UCD), completion of R&R for certain villages is likely to be affected due to completion of (UCD) and completion of works in the foreshore before impoundment of water above the (UCD), there was very poor progress, the CM said. He criticised the slow progress in the works related to the approach channel to the spillway and to both Right and Left head regulators.

“The change of agency abruptly at a critical stage of work, duly ignoring the advice of the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA), MoJS, GOI, and the delay in mobilisation of required men and machinery by the new agency and not realising the importance of closing of the two gaps in the upstream coffer dam resulted in the severe damage to the diaphragm wall and other aforementioned damages. The executing agency of the main dam of the Polavaram Project stopped construction in 2019 at the directions of the State government. They were informed that their contracts would be pre-closed as per recommendations of an expert committee constituted by the Government,” claimed Naidu.

An agreement was negotiated with a new agency, Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL), for Rs 1,548.12 crores after a reverse tendering process on November 11, 2019, at (-) 12.6 per cent less than the earlier contract rates. It was claimed that there is a saving of Rs 628.47 crores due to the cancellation of the previous tender and the subsequent reverse tendering.

What does report of IIT Hyderabad say about the delay?

Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH) was asked to conduct a third-party evaluation for the Polavaram Irrigation Project in 2021.

In the evaluation report, it was observed that inadequate construction and contract management, contractor changes, lack of strategic planning and coordination, frequent design changes/deviations, legal issues and non-compliance with directions/recommendations of the established monitoring mechanisms by the executing agency are some of the major reasons for the delays.

YSRCP govt diverted Central funds needed for Polavaram

Naidu alleged that the YSRCP government had diverted Rs 3,385 crore Central Government funds meant for the project, among other irregularities.

From 2014 to 2019, an expenditure of Rs 11,762.47 crores was incurred by the State government on the project out of which only Rs 6,764.16 crores was reimbursed to the State by GoI during the same period.

As much as Rs 4,998.31 crores was pending reimbursement which was released after May 31, 2019.

Further, from June 1, 2019, to May 31, 2024, the State government incurred an expenditure of Rs 4,996.53 crores only even though the GoI reimbursed Rs 8,382.11 crores. Thus, Rs 3,385.58 crores was diverted instead of spending the same on the Polavaram Project, thereby starving the project of its funds.

Diversion of funds led to pending bills

The diversion of funds has affected the progress of the works of the project and LA and R&R badly. It also led to payment of bills for Rs 2,697 crores pending as of May 5, 2024. All the executing agencies of the project have practically stopped the work due to non-payment of their pending bills.

“Several technical challenges were encountered in various components of the project due to poor project planning including in the construction of diaphragm wall (D-Wall), Earth Cum Rock Fill (ECRF) Dam in Gap I & Gap II, excess seepages and failure of guide bund,” explained Naidu.

Damaged to D-Wall

Calling the YSRCP government a "blind political dispensation", Naidu noted that the diaphragm wall which got damaged in the 2020 floods had come to the YSRCP government's notice only after two years.

Built at a cost of Rs 436 crore in 2018, the diaphragm wall's repairs will require Rs 447 crore now, he said, adding that a new one will impose a financial burden of Rs 990 crore, among other cost overruns.

From June 2018 to November 2018, no upstream coffer dam was in place. The entire flood passed over the diaphragm wall into the entire width of the river.

During the flood season from June 2020 to November 2020, in spite of requests, the gaps in the UCD were not plugged before the onset of the monsoon in June 2020.

During the flood season, the maximum flood received was 22 lakh cusecs. When such a large amount of flood water passed through the two gaps in the UCD, it generated a high-velocity flow. These high velocity flows through the two gaps caused deep scours on the downstream side of the coffer dam in the foundation area of the main dam, extending beyond the D-Wall and resulting in the damage of the D-Wall in portions in front of these two gaps.

Contractor couldn’t guarantee for the performance of the D-Wall after repairs

The Dam Design Review Panel (DDRP) agreed to the solution suggested by the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC).

The contractor MEIL took the suggestion of Bauer India Limited who were willing to do the job as per the NHPC suggestion but were unwilling to stand guarantee for the performance of the D-Wall after repair. Bauer suggested that it is better to construct a new plastic D-Wall for the entire length of the river as a long-term solution to ensure overall dam safety.

Later, the Government of AP sent a proposal to the Central Water Commission (CWC), Government of India requesting permission to take up construction of a new parallel D-Wall for the entire length. A decision on the same is awaited. From July 2020 to June 2024, work on the diaphragm wall and ECRF dam was at a total standstill.

Financial loss due to delay in hydropower project

The first three units of the Polavaram Hydro Electric Project were scheduled to be completed by November 2021. The other 6 units were to be commissioned within six months thereafter.

“Non-commissioning of these units has resulted in non-availability of cheap power to the state and has hence resulted in loss of more than Rs 3000 crores up to May 2024. This loss will go on increasing as the project completion is getting further delayed as discussed above,” said Naidu.

Experts from Canada and the USA to inspect Polavaram

According to Naidu, the project has come into a very difficult situation. He said the first priority is to resolve the issues plaguing the coffer dam, diaphragm wall, guide bund and others, following which the main works will be taken up.

He said the Centre has invited international experts from the US and Canada to sit at the project for 10 days a month to offer their recommendations to salvage the damaged portions.

After deducting the expenditure spent, the balance required for completing the project with impounding of water up to +41.15 m arrived at Rs 12,157 crores.

The Government has planned for Rehabilitation & Resettlement works and shifting of project displaced families (PDFs) to be completed by March 2026.