HYDERABAD: MEIL, country’s leading infrastructure company, has completed the construction of the world’s biggest engineering marvel and the largest lift irrigation project, Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), which will be inaugurated on June 21.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) has completed on a fast track mode and the construction has been completed in record time.
All the civil and electro-mechanical works in Medigadda to Mid-Maneru link-1 and link-2 have been completed.
The company, an industry leader with decades of experience, is installing 105 machines out of 120 machines and constructing 17 pump houses out of 20 in entire KLIS.
Medigadda, Annaram, Sundilla (link 1) pump houses along with the world’s biggest pump house at Lakshmipur (package 8 in link 2) are ready for pumping water. This prestigious KLIS would irrigate 37.08 lakh acres.
Asked about this major achievement, MEIL Director B Srinivas Reddy, said: “It is a privilege and lifetime opportunity to be able to bring the plan from print to reality. We have successfully engineered the world’s biggest pumping scheme in the country. To achieve that, we used world-class technology involving the best agencies that have delivered quality. We at MEIL believe that quality and timely delivery of projects are the benchmarks to our success.”
“KLIS is one of its kind and the largest lift scheme in the world. The project requires 7,152 MW of electricity to pump 3 TMCs of water daily. In the first phase, 4,992 MWs of electricity is being used for pumping 2 TMCs of water. MEIL has proven its strength in diverse forte - from the construction of major pump houses and power transmission infrastructure through to and civil and electro-mechanical engineering works at their best for pumping water this season,” Srinivas Reddy said.
According to the MEIL, till date, the biggest lift schemes in the world were the Colorado lift scheme in America and the Great Manmade River in Egypt.
The capacities of these schemes were in horsepower and they took over three decades for completion. Now, the KLIS, an Indian Lift Scheme has become the world’s biggest in terms of capacity.
Records galore
A total of 43 machines are being established for Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla pump houses, each having 40 MWs capacity.
These three pump houses consume nearly 1,720 MWs of electricity. The underground pump house in the package-8 will have seven units, out of which five machines are ready to pump 2 TMCs of water per day.
Each one of these machines have the world’s biggest pumping machines with a capacity of 139 MWs. This underground pump house itself would consume 973 MWs of electricity.
MEIL is also establishing four machines in package-11, each with a capacity of 135 MWs. F And another seven machines, each with a capacity of 124 MW are in package-6.
Marvel underground engineering
During 2018-19, the amount of work completed is a world record in terms of execution in pump houses. Nearly 177 lakh CuM worth of earthworks were completed for Medigadda scheme. On average, MEIL completed one lakh CuM of earthwork per day.
Completing 1,310 CuM of concrete work for a lift scheme and laying 39,700 tones of underground pipes in 18 months is another achievement.
MEIL established six machines at Medigadda in just 10 months, which is the shortest time frame in the world.
The package-8 pumping station can lift 3 TMCs of water per day.
It is constructed 330 meters below the ground and is the only one consisting of such a gigantic underground pumping station with seven units, each having a capacity of 139 MWs.
“The uniqueness of this pump house lies in its twin tunnels, which have been constructed side by side by excavating the earth with a diameter of 10.5 meters, each having a length of 4133 meters. Surge pool and additional surge pools of this pump house are also the biggest in the world. This is the first time such constructions have been made under the ground. One can imagine the size of the Pump House that has 330 Mts depth, 25 Mts width and 65 Mts of height,” said Srinivas Reddy, MEIL Director.