THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:To counter Tamil Nadu’s push for the Pampa-Achankovil-Vaipar link, Kerala is reviving the Twin Kallar Multi Purpose scheme, a power generation-plus-irrigation initiative in the Pampa and Achenkovil rivers for which studies had begun in the 1960s and 1970s.
A director board meeting of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has decided to give administrative sanction to the power generation portion of the scheme which is estimated to cost Rs 1410.26 crore.
The power generation capacity of this project, which will be located in Pathanapuram and Kozhencherry taluks of Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts respectively, has been pegged at 60 megawatts (MW).
The major components of the power project are an 89-metre-high dam across Achankovil-Kallar and another one of 75 metre height across Pamba-Kallar. A small masonry dam is also a part of the project.
There will be an inter-connecting tunnel of 13.7 kms and the penstock - the pipe carrying water to the power station - will be 305 metres long.
The power station will have two generators of 30 MW each. Power generated from the Twin Kallar Multi Purpose Project will be transmitted to 110 kV substation at Koodal. According to the KSEB, approximately 1200 hectares of forest land will be required for the project of which the submergence area will be 900 hectares. “Due to the implementation of the proposed scheme, no family needs to be displaced since all the component structures of the scheme are in forest land. The construction of the project is scheduled to be completed in a period of 8 years,’’ the KSEB said in a May 2 order on the scheme.
Project Report
The first project report on Twin Kallar Multi Purpose scheme was first prepared in 1975, following studies in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2010, the KSEB modified the power generation portion with revised estimates. In August 2014, the State Government decided to speed up this project with Tamil Nadu making sustained efforts to turn the controversial Pamba-Achankovil-Vaipar Link into a reality.
The power part of the project was again revised in 2014, and was estimated to cost Rs 1510.33 crore. A meeting in January this year decided to form a special unit headed by the chairman, Mullaperiyar cell, and to prepare a DPR in six months’ time.
Apart from power generation, this scheme which integrates the potential of the Pamba and Achenkovil basins will facilitate irrigation and the tail water will meet water supply needs in the towns on the bank of Achenkovil river, of the Kuttanad backwater scheme and the NTPC power plant in Kayamkulam.