World Bank, CWC teams to visit Odisha’s Hirakud dam on Apr 13

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Sambalpur, Apr 11:

An eight-member team of the World Bank and Central Water Commission (CWC) will arrive at Hirakud dam at Burla in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on a two-day visit on April 13 to conduct a ground survey of the proposed construction of a spillway on the left and right dyke of the dam.

During its visit, the team will also have a meeting with the senior officials of the Dam Safety departments, sources said.

The Hirakud dam, which was built to manage a maximum of 15 lakh cusecs of water, has not been able to regulate Mahanadi water in the recent floods due to drastic change in climatic conditions in the upper and lower catchments of the river. CWC has estimated that the reservoir is likely to receive 24 lakh cusecs of water in future, which would pose a serious threat to the dam.

Considering the above, CWC has planned construction of two spillways on the left and right dyke of the dam to release excess flood water in the river. Agis Group, engaged by the World Bank, has already submitted a proposal for construction of the spillways.

A two-member foreign expert team had visited the dam two months ago for a review in this regard.

On the basis of the proposal, an eight member team comprising the representatives of the Agis group, World Bank and CWC will visit the dam on April 13.

The Hiradkud dam has a total of 64 sluice gates and 34 crest gates.

Though the total volume of water in the reservoir was estimated at 4.92 million acre feet before its construction, the actual volume of water is 3.92 million acre feet spreading in an area of 743 sq km.