AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government had hoped to build the Kalpsar dam on the Gulf Cambay to create a sweet water reservoir. The project was conceived in the late 1990s, but it has yet to take off; in the most recent fiscal year 2022-23, the state government fell short of utilizing the assigned funds for the project.
According to the Narmada Water Resources and Irrigation Department’s progress report, it allotted Rs 62.88 crore for the fiscal year 2022-23, but it could only spend Rs 14.89 crore until December 2022. According to this report in the year 2021-22, it used Rs 1.76 crore less the budgeted amount of Rs 41.05 crore. It also states that planning of the command area and water distribution network is going on.
The original plan of the project was to build a 32 32-kilometer dam on the Gulf of Cambay, between Saurashtra and South Gujarat. which will create a sweet water reservoir from the water of the Narmada Canal, Mahi, Dhadhar, Sabarmati, and other rivers from Saurashtra. The primary estimate is that the said reservoir water storage capacity would be 8,000 million cubic meters.
The said water reservoir, planning to provide 45,000 million cubic meters of water for irrigation, addressing the need for 10 lakh hectares of land along the sea coast of 37 Taluka of nine districts, according to the progress report. The remaining water will be supplied for drinking, commercial, and industrial usage. It is expected to decrease salinity in the area and increase agricultural production.