CCEA approves revised cost for safety of 198 dams

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved the revised cost estimate of Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) at Rs 3,466 crore for 198 dams in the country, an official statement said.

The CCEA also gave its ex post facto approval for two-year time extension from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2020. The project aims to improve safety and operational performance of the dams, along with institutional strengthening with better management approach.

Of the Rs 3,466 crore, Rs 2,628 crore will be funded by the World Bank and Rs 747 crore will be funded by DRIP states or the implementing agencies and balance Rs 91 crore will be funded by the Central Water Commission (CWC), it said.

"The project will improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and mitigate risks to ensure safety of downstream population and property," the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said.

The scheme plans comprehensive rehabilitation of 198 existing dam projects in seven states - Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand (Damodar Valley Corporation) and Uttarakhand (Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd).

The main beneficiaries are urban and rural communities dependent on reservoir and downstream communities, who are prone to risks related with dam failure or operational failure, the statement said.

Further, through institutional strengthening component, effectiveness of Dam Safety Organisations will be increased to take the lead to make dams safe from structural and operational point of view through capacity building of staff and officials, it said.

Originally, the total cost of DRIP was Rs 2,100 Crore with state component of Rs 1,968 crore and central component of Rs 132 crore. Initially the project was a six-year project which commenced on April 18, 2012 with a scheduled closing on June 30, 2018.

--IANS

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