Hirakud dam in Odisha's Sambalpur to get additional spillways after decade-long delay under DRIP-III

Odisha government to fund additional spillways under World Bank’s DRIP-III, with revised cost of Rs 884.38 crore.
Hirakud dam in Sambalpur
Hirakud dam in SambalpurFile | Express
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BHUBANESWAR : A decade after the Central Water Commission (CWC) recommended two additional spillways on the left and right dykes of Hirakud reservoir to protect the world’s longest earthen dam from further deterioration, none of them are yet to get off ground.

The reason, delay in deciding whether the additional spillways would be built under World Bank (WB)-funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) or the state government would take up the project on its own. However, after the long delay, the government has finally decided to include the project under DRIP.

Hirakud reservoir built across river Mahanadi in Sambalpur is one of the earliest major multi-purpose river valley projects of India. Spanning an area of 743 sq km when full, the dam and dykes together measure 25.8 km.

With depleted water-holding capacity of the dam and extreme weather conditions induced by climate change throwing up challenges of floodwater management and threatening safety of the dam, the CWC had advised two additional spillways way back in 2015.

Sources said though one of the spillways was taken up by a joint venture (JV) of Tata Projects Limited and Turkey-based AGE Group at an estimated Rs 369 crore under DRIP-II in 2019, the state government cancelled the work contract after the JV backed out citing delay in resolution of displacement issues in 2020.

A year later, the Odisha government decided to construct the additional spillway with its own funding through Odisha Construction Corporation (OCC). Accordingly, the project was re-estimated at `786 crore. But the project could not again take off due to procedural and approval delays.

In May last year, the Water Resources department revised the estimate once again and decided to take up the additional spillway project with hydromechanical works on the left of Gandhi Hillock at Hirakud dam at a cost of around Rs 884.38 crore. But the project remained in the approval stage.

As per preliminary survey, rehabilitation of around 1,429 families in 716 households was needed for the construction of one additional spillway, and this caused the delay. The spillway is critical to Hirakud’s health because it can decrease load of water on the dam and save it from damage in case the reservoir reaches a peak maximum flood level caused by extreme precipitation events.

Meanwhile, after the change of government, the department has decided that the project would be built under WB-funded DRIP-III.

Chief engineer of Mahanadi basin Sushil Kumar Behera said, “We have resubmitted the proposal with an estimate of Rs 884.38 crore for the project. Hopefully, it would be accorded administrative approval soon.”

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