VIJAYAWADA: Expediting the project execution process, the water resources department is planning to take up the main canal works along with Tandava lift irrigation scheme on a priority as a part of the Babu Jagjivan Ram Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanti, which was cleared by the State Cabinet recently.
The department is in the process of forming a special purpose vehicle (SPV), tentatively named Uttarandhra Irrigation Projects Development Corporation Ltd, for mobilising funds for the project. According to the plan of execution, the project has been envisaged to be completed in two phases consisting of six packages — one package in phase-1 and five in phase-II.
While the cost of the overall project is Rs 15,389.80 crore, the department needs about Rs 8,554 crore at the moment to take up the said packages. The works of package-1, estimated to cost Rs 2,022 crore, are in progress. The phase-2 works, estimated to cost Rs 6,032 crore including land acquisition and related expenditure, are under departmental review, while the Tandava lift irrigation scheme, estimated to cost Rs 500 crore, is yet to get clearance from the finance department. The year-wise fund projection, to be pooled in by the SPV, has also been given by the department — Rs 1,260 crore this year, Rs 2,100 crore each in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Rs 1,680 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 1,260 crore in 2024-25. The department has already sought government’s permission for the formation of the SPV.
Game changer for north coastal AP
The project aims at tapping Godavari flood water to irrigate eight lakh acres in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, besides providing industrial and drinking water to 1,037 villages covering a population of 30 lakh
