PALAKKAD: The government will call for an Expression of Interest this month itself for the de-silting process in the Malampuzha dam with the consent of the Election Commission and the removal of silt would begin in the first week of November 2009, said Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and Water Resource Minister N K Premachandran.
Addressing a joint press conference at the Malampuzha Guest House here on Monday, they said that the Finance Ministry has already approved the decision to call for an Expression of Interest.
The de-silting of the Malampuzha dam being undertaken in the first phase is part of scheme devised by the Government to de-silt all the dams in the state and increase the storage capacity and streamline the drinking water system.
The scheme which was formulated by the Water Resource Department was mentioned as a policy in the State budget of 2009.
As per the studies conducted by the Kerala Engineering Research Institute (KERI), in the Malampuzha dam 12 percent storage capacity has been lost.
It is estimated that 30 million cubic metre silt has been deposited of which 15 percent is river sand.
Subsequently, in the studies conducted by the National Remote Sensing Agency of Hyderabad it was found that there was 17 million cubic metre garbage in the dam.
If the river sand deposits is estimated at 8 million cubic metres, it would be valued at Rs 840 crore. If a sum of Rs 440 crore is spent for mining and transporting the river sand, it is felt that the government would net Rs 400 crore as revenue.
The funds realised by the government by removing silt from the various dams will be included in non-taxable revenue and utilised to undertake development projects.
The ministers said that Rs 10,000 crore worth developmental work have been envisaged in the state in the last budget and these funds could be utilised for achieving these ends. Moreover, the disastrous effects on the rivers caused due to sand mining can be minimised.
Since the sand will be mined 500 metres away from the dam there will be no damage to the reservoir.
KERI has also conducted an environment impact study and allayed all fears. Though the government has conducted studies by expert agencies, the contractors /companies who wish to bid for the work will have the right to estimate the quantity of river sand and silt in the dam. In order to ensure that the supply of drinking water is not affected , a separate weir would be constructed and the water would be stored while the de-siltation process is on.
The technology of soundless dredging would be utilised.
In smaller dams like Chulliyar and Meenkara, the services of local contractors would be utilised to remove the silt, said the ministers.
The expert team deputed for the study was headed by the Water Resources department and consist of representatives from the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Centre for Earth and Science Studies (CESS), Cochin Port Trust , Thiruvananthapuram College of Engineering, Kerala Water Authority and the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI).
Finance Minister Thomas Isaac and Water Resources Minister Premachandran visited the Onaam puzha and shutter areas of the Malampuzha dam and also the Chulliyar, Meenkara, Pothundy and Mangalam dam along with members of the expert team and officials.