Cabinet nod to revised cost estimate for dam safety project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Wednesday approved the revised cost estimate of a project to improve the safety of 198 dams across the country.

The revised cost has now been pegged at Rs 3,466 crore. Originally, the total cost of the project was Rs 2,100 crore with state component of Rs 1,968 crore and central component of Rs 132 crore.

The scheme envisages comprehensive rehabilitation of 198 existing dam projects located in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

The project will improve the safety and operational performance of selected existing dams and mitigate risks to ensure safety of downstream population and property, an official statement said.

The primary beneficiaries are both urban and rural communities dependent on reservoir and downstream communities, which are prone to risk associated with dam failure or operational failure.

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

Initially the project was for six years, commencing in April 2012 with a scheduled closing in June 2018.

The project implementation was granted in-principle approval for two years extension in 2017 by the Water Resources Minister and the World Bank with a revised closure date of June 30, 2020.