Pakal Dul tunnel project cost not inflated, says company

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 24

The Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited has sought to clarify that the tendering of the headrace tunnel work at the Pakal Dul hydroelectric project was scrapped following high cost quoted by the lowest bidder and not due to the inflated estimated cost.

The Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Limited (CVPPPL), which is executing three hydroelectric projects —Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Kiru and Kwar (aggregate capacity of 2,164 MW at the Chenab basin in Kishtwar district), also claimed that the offered price by the lowest bidder was 32 per cent higher than the estimated cost.

This information was shared by the company while reacting to a news report on the Pakal Dul hydroelectric project carried in this newspaper on February 14.

The company has claimed that there was no cost inflation at any level.

“The offered price by the lowest bidder was 32 per cent higher than the estimated cost. The board found this unacceptable and accordingly the tender was scrapped,” the CVPPPL has said.

The Pakal Dul hydroelectric project is located on the Marusudar, a tributary of the Chenab, and is covered under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan.

The company claimed that the cancellation of the tender due to the high cost quoted by the bidder was not an isolated incident.

“The CVPPPL had earlier cancelled the first EPC tender due to the poor response and thereafter, the second EPC tender was cancelled due to the higher cost quoted by the lowest bidder. The package mode tendering for the project has been resorted to due to earlier cancellations of the tenders,” it said.

A top official of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, during a seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty at the University of Jammu recently, had said that “Pakal Dul power project is being executed under three packages— power house, dam for storage and tunnel package. Only in the tunnel package, the contract has been cancelled by the J&K Governor because its cost was exaggerated by 40 per cent.”

The CVPPPL, a joint venture between the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, J&K State Power Development Corporation and the Power Trading Corporation of India, however, remained silent on the statement made by a top NHPC official with regard to the cancellation of the tender by the Governor.

Senior officials shied away from commenting on the issue.

“Tenders were invited for five packages — power house works, dam works, headrace tunnel works by tunnel boring machine, electro-mechanical works and hydro-mechanical works. The power house package was awarded in February 2018, while the dam package was awarded in June 2018.

“Since the project can only be completed when all civil works are awarded in sync, it was critical for the CVPPPL to award the headrace tunnel and tunnel boring machine works also, but due to the higher cost quoted, despite best negotiations by the committee, the work could not be awarded”.