The Chandrababu Naidu government has taken up the reconstruction of the Polavaram project, which was severely neglected during the YSRCP regime. The most crucial diaphragm wall work in the project formally started at 10.19 AM on Saturday.
The construction of a new diaphragm wall of 1.396 km long will be undertaken at a cost of about Rs 1,000 crores. When it is half completed, the work of the earth-cum-rockfill dam will also begin on it in parallel. The time has been fixed for the commencement of the concrete construction work of the most crucial diaphragm wall in the Polavaram project.
The construction of a new diaphragm wall of 1.396 km long and 1.5 meters thick will be undertaken 6 meters above the damaged old diaphragm wall. Plastic concrete-T5 mixture will be used for this. Construction will be undertaken from a minimum depth of 20 meters and a maximum of 94 meters.
Bauer Company, which has expertise in diaphragm wall construction, will undertake these works. For this, heavy machinery such as 3 trench cutters, 3 heavy grabbers, and 3 desanding units have been brought from Germany.
The most crucial earth cum rock fill dam in the project will be constructed on the diaphragm wall itself. If the nearly 2-kilometer-long ECRF dam is completed, it will be possible to divert Godavari water into the reservoir. If the entire project is completed, 194 TMC of water can be stored.
Although the diaphragm wall was previously constructed during the previous Telugu Desam regime, it was damaged in three places during the 2020 Godavari floods due to the negligence of the YSRCP government. Sand erosion has formed ravines.
Currently, they are being buried and the sand is being compacted using vibro compaction method to construct a new diaphragm wall. A total of 383 panels and over one lakh cubic meters of plastic concrete mixture will be used as part of the construction of the new diaphragm wall.
The cost of the new diaphragm wall is expected to be Rs 998 crore. The state government has finalized the schedule to complete the construction of the new diaphragm wall within a year and a half.