53% of works finished: Officials

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials to complete Gundlakamma reservoir works within three weeks so that the project can be inaugurated next month.

The Chief Minister held a review on Polavaram and other irrigation projects at the Secretariat on Monday. Officials informed the Chief Minister that works related to Gundlakamma reservoir will be completed in the first week of March.

After the Chief Minister completed the review on irrigation projects, water resources minister Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao told the media that the state government was ensuring transparency in the construction of multipurpose project Polavaram and placed all the details on website.

He assured that they would complete construction of Polavaram by 2019 as per schedule. Earlier, during the review meeting, officials informed the Chief Minister that the Polavaram Project has achieved an overall progress of 53 per cent.

The works being executed include the head works, the right main canal and the left main canal. They said 71 per cent of the excavation for the spillway and spill channel has been completed, i.e., 775 lakh cubic metres out of 1,055 lakh cubic metres.

Overall, 39 percent of the head works have been completed. Other main components of the dam that have shown consistent progress are the diaphragm wall (68 per cent), radial gates (58 per cent) and the jet grouting for the cofferdam (78 per cent). Water Resources Secretary Shashi Bhushan said that the minutes of these weekly review meetings and the project status updates are being regularly updated on the Polavaram and the Water Resources Department websites.

Chandrababu Naidu requested the contractors in charge of the Left Main Canal to ensure faster progress, and asked for a detailed plan and date of completion by next Monday. Officials from Transstroy India Ltd. informed Naidu that they have transferred all the equipment and machinery for better progress.

Shashi Bhushan said that last week a sum of Rs 603 crore has been reimbursed by the Centre, and further Rs 470.44 crore has been released and it reached NABARD. The amount will be paid to the State within a week.

The total expenditure incurred on Polavaram up to December 31, 2017 is Rs 12,915.38 crore. The amount reimbursed by the Centre up to February 9, 2018 is Rs 4,932.26 crore.

Out of all the 28 priority projects, seven have been inaugurated and 6 of them will be inaugurated during the 116 days of Jalasamrakshana Udyama Spoorthi.

The six projects are Pogonda Reservoir in West Godavari, the Pedapalem Lift Irrigation Scheme, the Chinasana Lift Irrigation Scheme, the Owk Tunnel, Gorakallu Balancing Reservoir and the Pulikanuma Lift Irrigation Scheme.

Naidu also spoke to engineers over a video-conference and discussed the progress of priority as well as non-priority projects. The Korisapadu Lift Irrigation Scheme will be completed by March 31 2018.

Kondaveeti Vagu Pumping Scheme (Flood Diversion) will be ready for inauguration in April. Officials reported that the groundwater, which is currently at 11.11 m will decrease to 12.75 m by May 2018. In May 2017, the ground water was much less at 14.79 m. The Chief Minister said that the aim is to reach a water level of 8 m during the next season.