Finally, a slight window of hope seems to have opened for the project to revive the beleaguered Canoli Canal, with the Inland Navigation Directorate at Kollam accepting the technical bid submitted by five companies for desiltation and construction of side protection walls along the 11.2-km-long canal.
Sources within the Irrigation Department said that the bids will now be reviewed by the Committee of Chief Engineers before the work is awarded to the selected company. “The initial process has been completed and we are hopeful of commencing the project for the revival of the canal by February-end. Though there has been some delay in starting the work, we hope to complete at least the desiltation process before the onset of the monsoon and the remaining work will be carried out after the rainy season,” said an official at the Irrigation Department.
However, the officials cautioned that there could still be several hurdles to clear, as it is highly likely that the submitted tenders may have quoted an excess price. In such a situation, the selected bid will be referred to the state government for taking a final decision.
“The project is funded by Nabard and the estimate is set at `2.4 crore. This estimate has been prepared based on the rate revision of 2010. There is every chance that the amount will be quoted in excess of that estimate, which will further delay the project implementation,” said the official.
T h e I r r i g a t i o n Department is planning to revive the canal in two phases- carrying out the desiltation and side protection wall construction in the first phase and in the second phase, elevating the overbridges over the canal at various parts for declaring it a National Waterway.
“Actually the plan was to implement it as a single project with an estimate of `4.6 crore, funded by NABARD. But it was later discovered that the elevation of bridges at several points, including at Puthiyara and Puthiyapalam, needed land acquisition and this forced us to carry out the work in two phases,” he added.
Aside from this project, another ambitious project to increase the depth of the Kallai River to facilitate more flow of water from the Canoli Canal is also caught in red tape. Work on the project, costing an estimated `4.1 crore, was expected to start by September, but officials said that the contractor who took up the work had quoted an excess price of 24 per cent. “The file regarding this was under the consideration of the Revenue Secretary and a major hurdle in taking a final call is the absence of the High Power Committee for the River Management Fund which is entitled to take a final decision regarding the issue. If they do not approve the tender immediately, the entire revival plan will be in doldrums,” sources added.
