12 dams to benefit under Rs 470 crore World Bank project

Chennai:

Twelve dams of Tamil Nadu will benefit under the Rs 470 crore World Bank funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP), according to Public Works Department minister Ramalingam

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a workshop held on Dam safety here on Friday, Ramalingam said that Rs 470 crore has been sanctioned for DRIP project of which, 20 per cent will be provided by the state while 80 per cent by World Bank.

Her said in the first phase works will be carried out in 12 of the total 66 dams.

The minister also inaugurated two mobile vans besides symbolic opening of two labs in Villupuram and Irukangudi near Sattur to ensure quality work under the Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernisation and Water-bodies Restoration and Management Project.

“The vans and labs would conduct third party checks on the project,” said D V S Murthy, regional manager of southern region WAPCOS, union government undertaking under the Ministry of Water Resources.

The mobile vans can access difficult places where quality of work could be assessed instead of sending the samples to the labs, said PWD engineering-in-chief of the Water Resources Department S S Rajagopal.

The minister also told reporters that tenders worth 27 crore has already been floated for the conversion of a complex built during the DMK regime into a multi-speciality hospital. He also said the land will be acquired soon for building the Rs 330 crore new reservoir and work will start within six months