VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is likely to visit Polavaram project site on February 28 (Friday) to take stock of the progress of the national project. This will be the second visit of Jagan as the Chief Minister to the project site where Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) has deployed about 5,000 workers with an aim to complete the civil works of the project by August, 2021.
Though the Chief Minister’s visit was initially proposed to be on Thursday, sources said that his visit has been changed by a day later due to changes in his schedule. Arrangements are being made at the project site so that the CM could undertake a comprehensive review with a focus on rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R), water resources officials said. On Tuesday, Water Resources minister P Anil Kumar reviewed the arrangements for the CM’s visit, besides taking note of the R and R status.
Meanwhile, the project site is buzzing with activity with teams from various organisations expediting the works. While MEIL, the contracting agency, has chalked out a work plan to complete the works in stipulated time, a team from Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), an arm of Union Jal Shakti ministry, is on a six-day visit till February 29 to carry out soil tests at upperstream cofferdam, MEIL representatives, in a statement on Tuesday, stated that the project has reached a critical stage with a total concrete work of Rs 3.07 lakh cubic metres left.
“The spillway concrete works would be completed by June, 2020. Bridgeworks of the spillway would be finished by the end of August, and channel bridge works would be over by May, 2021. As the designs of these works are approved, works are being taken up at a fast pace. All the works related to divide wall, training wall and guide wall would be completed by May-end this year. We intended to complete these works within the next seven months, well before the onset of floods in the Godavari. Other works like project coating, surface dressing and road finishing would be completed by August 2021,” said general manager of MEIL A Satish Babu. MEIL has placed sophisticated modern technology and required engineering manpower to complete the task in scheduled time, he added.
Though works were resumed in November last year, after the government went for a reverse tendering, they were affected due to floods in Godavari River. About 4 TMCs of water accumulated at the construction site, damaging the approach roads besides submerging them. It took nearly 3 months for the agency to dewater the area and reconstruct the roads.