Spillway strenghthening to be completed next month

Koynanagar, Maharashtra, Apr 6 (UNI) The country's first ever project of strengthening the spillway of Koyana Dam in Satara district, to make it safe against future earthquakes will be completed by next month at a cost of Rs 93.78 crore.

Also, a 4.5 km long underground headrace tunnel under the reservoir to tap unutilized water, specially for irrigation and uninterrupted power supply in the fourth stage, will be completed later this year, according to Koyana Dam Executive Engineer S B Joshi.

Mr Joshi was talking to a visiting team of journalists from Pune to the dam site yeterday.

The streghthening of the Koyana Dam spillway will be one of the landmark project in the Indian civil engineerin to be undertaken, Mr Ankineedu Maganti, Director of Soma Enterprises, which has been awarded the project, said.

The Strengthening of the spillway was envisaged by the water resources department of the Maharashtra government.

The project is being completed ahead of the schedule, Mr Maganti said.

The work has been undertaken following a report by a State government appointed committee, under the chairmanship of Mr V R Deuskar, recommding strenghthening of eight of the 27 dams in Maharashtra after the Killari earthquake of 1993. It also recommended the strengthening of the spillway of the Koyana dam, which is built in the seismic zone and prone to high intensity earthquakes.

Mr Joshi said such a project has been undertaken for the first time in the country.

On completion, the dam's storage capacity would increase by 6.5 TMC and this would be achieved by raising the storage level of the reservoir by five feet.

The cost of the 4.5 km long Head Race Tunnel on the upstream is around Rs 170 crore, Mr Joshi said adding, ''With this tunnel we will have uninterrupted power generation from the fourth stage, which usually shuts down between March and May annually as water levels go down. Now we will increase the water supply by 20 TMC for irrigation and raise it to 50 TMC after the tunneling work is complete.'' Koyna Dams is one of the major dams in India and has a lion's share in the hydroelectric generation in Maharashtra, accounting for more than two-third of the total hydel power installed capacity in the State.

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