Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said just as the record of the Polavaram Irrigation Project Spillway concrete work was broken by completing 11,158 cubic meters in 24 hours the entire project would also be completed in a record time making it functional by the end of 2019.
“Chinese currently hold the world record of completing 13,000 cubic meters of concrete work in 24 hours. I am confident that the works at Polavaram project would beat China’s record very soon, as we have already secured the second place with regard to the quantum of work undertaken in a prescribed timeframe,” he said at a public meeting near the project site on Monday. Earlier he inspected the ongoing works from a chopper and performed a ‘homam’ to mark the completion of the diaphragm wall.
Cost escalation
Observing that the project cost escalated from ₹126 crore in 1946 to ₹58,000 crore now, Mr. Naidu attributed the seven decade-long delay to the governments that ruled the State all these years. “I am considering myself lucky to construct the Polavaram project and dedicate it to the nation. We are fighting with the Centre for the release of funds, as the Centre has to take care of the part since it is declared a national project,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that an extent of 7.2 lakh acres would get irrigation once the project was completed, besides stabilising the ayacut for another 40 lakh acres in the Godavari districts.
“In addition, we are also providing irrigation to the farm fields in Krishna delta by sending water through the Pattiseema lift irrigation project,” he pointed out. Explaining his vision of interlinking all the five rivers in the State to the farmers there, Mr. Naidu said that since the interlinking of the Godavari and the Krishna was already completed, now plans were afoot to interlink the Godavari and the Penna. “The idea is to interlink the Nagavali and the Vamsadhara rivers, so that the north Andhra region will be freed from shortage of water,” he said.
Ministers Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Pitani Satyanarayana, Collector K. Bhaskar, officials and elected representatives were present.
Later, Mr. Naidu felicitated the engineering staff and the contractors who were participating in the project works.