Vijayawada: The state government approved cost variations amounting to Rs 354.23 crore for the construction of the Greenfield Port at Ramayapatnam under the EPC mode.

The revised approval includes two components, additional expenditure due to changes in the disposal location of dredged material and increased costs arising from dredging in hard soil strata with high Standard Penetration Test (SPT) values exceeding 40.

According to official orders, the total approved variation cost stands at Rs 354.23 crore inclusive of GST and other applicable taxes. The government has also accorded revised administrative sanction of Rs 4,923.39 crore for Phase-1 of the project.

The project is being executed by a joint venture of Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd. and Aurobindo Realty under an EPC contract awarded in July 2021. The contractors had sought additional costs citing longer distances for offshore disposal of dredged material and operational difficulties due to hard rock layers encountered during dredging.

After detailed evaluation, the Tender Evaluation and EPC Committee recommended Rs 62.87 crore (excluding taxes) for Variation-1 and Rs 227.57 crore (excluding taxes) for Variation-2. These recommendations were accepted by the government.