VIJAYAWADA: In a frist of kind initiative in the State, the AP Water Resources Department is going to conduct water audit in the first week of January 2018. Water Resources Minister Devineni Uma Maheshwara Rao has said that the water levels in dams and all other water bodies in the State have been increased during the rainy season.
The minister said Polavaram coffer dam work would be started within a week. Around 50% of the Polavaram works has been finished and the remaining works are going on in a fast pace. The concrete works of 2.03 crores of cubic meters were completed, said the minister.
He said the Vamsadhara project phase 2 works would be started in February 2018 and the work would be finished by June 2018 by spending around `1,000 crore.
A B Pandya, chairman of Dam Design and Review Committee (DDRC) appointed by the Central water board, has given permission to start the works of lower stream coffer dam of the Polavaram project. Keller Limited Corporation has procured all the machinery and infrastructure for the project works.
The Union Water Resources Chief Secretary Amarjit Singh wrote a letter to the chairman of National Hetro Power Corporation to submit a report on the design of upper coffer dam.
Meanwhile, the Pandya committee held a meeting and gave nod to the works of lower coffer dam. The AP State irrigation department is has already requested the Union Water Resources Ministry for the green signal for starting the works of upper stream coffer dam.
The State Water Resources Department has called tenders for works of Polavaram project such as spillways, spil channel, concrete and earth works.
