Sardar Nigam to pump in Rs 120 cr for raising dam height

With the Gujarat government racing against time in raising the height of the Narmada dam by ten metres before the monsoon sets in, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), which is implementing the ambitious Sardar Sarovar Project, will pump in Rs 120 crore for the work.

After already spending Rs 15,000 crore according to 2000-01 prices, SSNNL will spend Rs one crore a day, as it plans to raise the dam height to 110.64 metres from the existing 100 metres in 120 days from the day when the Narmada Control Authority permitted the height to be raised.

Beginning March 18, when the Narmada Control Authority permitted the dam height to be increased from 100 metres to 110.64 metres, the state government has planned to complete increasing of the height within a period of 120 days.

This will involve laying about two lakh cubic metres of concrete, 3,000 metric tonnes of steel and consumption of about 38,000 metric tonnes of cement.

"SSNNL will pump in Rs 120 crore for raising the height to 110.64 metres. Although we are two stages away from achieving a complete dam height of 138 metres, the 110.64 metres height will be a major landmark," said S K Mohapatra, managing director of SSNNL.

The managing director said after the dam reaches the 110.64 metre stage, the construction will have two more phases left. In the first phase, the dam height will be increased from 110 metres to 121 metres and finally from 121 metres to 138 metres.

According to estimates by the SSNNL, the entire project is estimated to cost Rs 27,000 crore (according to 2000-01 prices) when it is complete, but this figure is likely to be higher than the estimated cost as a result of rupee appreciation.

Plans have been drawn to complete the project in about two and a half years from now.

Sources in SSNNL said while the Saurashtra branch of the Narmada Main Canal is being completed as per schedule and will reach Kutch district in a year and a half from now, water will actually flow into the canal by gravitational force only when a height of 138 metres is achieved.

"But even as construction of the Saurashtra branch canal proceeds, 20 more rivers will be connected to the Narmada Main Canal, thus irrigating thousands of acres of land," Mohapatra said.

In October 2000, the Supreme Court had directed that the Narmada dam height be raised from 85 metres to 90 metres and asked the NCA to draw up a detailed plan for the completion of the dam.

Then, the NCA permitted the dam height to be raised from 90 metres to 95 metres in May 2002. Subsequently, the NCA permitted the height to be raised by a further five metres in May 2003. As of March 2004, the dam height stood at 100 metres and will be increased to 110.64 metres by July this year.