Vijayawada: Work on Polavaram lower coffer dam diaphragm wall begins

Vijayawada: The Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) on Monday started construction work on the Polavaram lower coffer dam diaphragm wall.

Vice-president of MEIL Rangarajan conducted puja and started the work. Water Resources department DEE MKDV Prasad, Megha Engineering company general manager Muddu Krishna, Dev Mani Mishra, AGM Rajesh, coordinator Tagore Chand and other engineers were in attendance.

As the construction of the upper cofferdam was nearing completion, the MEIL expedited the work on the lower coffer dam. Another cofferdam will be built at the bottom to prevent water into ECRF (earth-cum-rock fill dam) site. The construction work on the ECRF dam will begin at the end of the year.

The upper coffer dam is expected to be 2,480 meters long and 42.5 meters high. The construction of the entire upper coffer dam averaging 40 meters was completed. The lower cofferdam is to be 1616-metre long and 30.50-metre high.

Meanwhile, the MEIL has expedited the construction of the crucial lower coffer dam, which is 10 meters deep, 1.2 meters wide. The MEIL has already completed about 62,730 cubic meters of rock filling work on the lower cofferdam.