Amaravati Iconic Tower Tenders Finalized; ₹158 Cr Excess Raises Eyebrows

At last, the tender allocation for the Amaravati Iconic Towers has been completed. In fact, this process was supposed to be completed back in May, but it stretched out until the end of June. Authorities say there are several reasons behind this delay. The tenders for the Secretariat and the HOD (Heads of Department) complex, which are to be constructed under the name of the Amaravati Government Complex, have been awarded at an estimated cost of ₹3,673.43 crore excluding taxes. What’s strange here is that all the tenders have been bagged by major companies. These include Larsen & Toubro (L&T), NCC, and Shapoorji Pallonji. Looking at the excess quoted by these three companies to win the tenders in various ways, anyone would naturally be suspicious. L&T secured the tender for Towers 3 and 4 of the Secretariat. The company quoted an excess of 4.54%. While the estimated cost for these works was ₹1,247.22 crore, with the excess included, the total rose to ₹1,303.85 crore.

Another company, Shapoorji Pallonji, secured the construction contract for Towers 1 and 2 of the Secretariat. This company too placed a bid with an excess of 4.50% over the estimated value. As a result, the cost of these towers rose from ₹1,423 crore to ₹1,487.11 crore. The GAD Tower, which is to house the Chief Minister’s Office, was bagged by NCC. This company also quoted an excess of 4.53% over the estimated value. Consequently, the construction cost of this tower increased from ₹844.22 crore to ₹882.47 crore. The combined excess quoted by these three companies amounts to ₹158 crore—an additional burden on the government treasury. On the other hand, there are allegations that there were significant irregularities even in the estimated costs of these Iconic Tower tenders. To facilitate issuing the Letter of Award (LOA) to the companies that secured the tenders, Chief Secretary Suresh Kumar issued orders on Thursday. Another strange aspect here is that the Shapoorji Pallonji company, which was previously accused of bribing Chandrababu Naidu, has now managed to secure a major project in Amaravati. Compared to other companies, this one has quoted the highest excess.