Chandrababu Naidu hopes to complete Polavaram by 2019

Amaravati: The AP government has decided to showcase the progress of the Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) before the people on the second day of Nava Nirma­na Deeksha to create awa­re­ness on its efforts to complete the project and the hurdles created by the Centre by not releasing funds in time for the project.

As the Polavaram project is considered as the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh, which is primarily based on agriculture, the state government is allocating a lion’s share of its resources for completion of the project. The government proposed an allocation of Rs 9,000 crore for the project in the 2018-19 budget out of the total allocation of Rs 16,978 crore to the Water Resources Department.

This multipurpose major project was planned to create ultimate irrigation potential of 2.91 lakh hectares in the state. The project also envisages generation of 960 MW of hydropower, drinking water supply to 540 villages and diversion of 80 TMC of water to Krishna basin.

The Polavaram project has reached an overall progress of 53.5% which includes excavation, concrete laying, diaphragm wall, jet grouting, radial gates, connectivity, the Right Main Canal and the Left Main Canal.

The government has decided to complete the diaphragm wall and jet grouting works before June 10 and a gallery walk of about 2 km will be constructed, passing through the dam site, and is expected to be completed by August.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu intends to complete the project by the end of 2019 in spite of hurdles from the Union government. It is the responsibility of the Centre to complete the Polavaram project according to the AP Reorganisation Act. The Central government declared Polavaram as national project and promised that it will provide 100 % finance for construction of the project.

The state government has taken necessary steps to restart all the works which were stopped due to various problems like court cases, land acquisition problems etc, during 2015 and the progress of woks geared up. Specialised agencies like L&T-NBauer for diaphragm wall, Triveni for excavation, Kellar Constructions for jet grouting, Putzmeister for concreting have been brought on board for quality execution of the project. The progress of concreting increased with the involvement of Navayuga construction in the Polavaram works.

The Keller Construction, Bauer and L&T Geo may be relieved from works on June 10 after completing the diaphragm wall and jet grouting.
The total cost of the project was Rs 16,010 crore as per 2010-11 price level which was enhanced to Rs 51,315.87 crore after it was declared as the national project.

The state government is demanding the Centre to reimburse all the expenditure made on the project by the state before the project declared as national project. The delay in release of funds by the Centre also hampered the pace of work in some extent.

On other hand, the Central Water Commission wanted the state government to ensure to provide justification in respect of variation in quantities along with supporting documents on urgent basis. The AP Water Resources Department has submitted some documents relating to the cost increase of the project.