Ageing dams in Rajasthan to be restored with World Bank aid

The ageing dams in Rajasthan will be rehabilitated under a World Bank assisted project to improve their safety and operational performance, said an official of the water resources department on Wednesday.

The Rajasthan Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has approved ₹965.65 crore, which is 30% of the project; the remaining 70% of the cost will come from the World Bank as loan.

The Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) ran in seven states – Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand – from 2012 to 2018.

In the second phase, the project will run in 18 states, including Rajasthan, the official added.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has vetted hydrology of 50 dams, which will be taken up under this project in the first phase in Rajasthan, which has more than 200 dams, most of them ageing and having varying degrees of maintenance issues. Jaisamand dam and Fatehsagar in Udaipur are among the oldest dams in the state.

There will be two components of the project: the first will be for rehabilitation and improvement of dams and associated appurtenances, and the second will be for institutional strengthening.

Under the preparatory works, two dam safety review panels (DSRPs) were set up for four zones in the state. These panels inspected 113 dams and submitted reports to the CWC. The commission reviewed hydrology of 101 dams.

The World Bank team visited two dams on May 29 and 30 this year, the official said, adding that 156 participants have been given 14 state and national trainings.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot announced the roll-out of the project in the state in his budget speech for 2019-2020.

Naveen Mahajan, principal secretary of water resources department, said that in a water scare state like Rajasthan where every drop of water is precious, World Bank assisted project on comprehensive rehabilitation and modernization of dams is coming at the most opportune time.

“In next few years, we intend to ensure that our dams stand up to the global standards in terms of efficiency, instrumentation, safety and other features,” he added.

Under the project, safety audit of all dams will be carried out by experts, which include former engineers from the CWC.

In component one of the project, the dams will be strengthened with repair, slope protection and removal of seepage or leakage. The dams will be modernized with instrumentation and monitoring system in this component. In the second component, institutional strengthening and capacity building will be done for sustained dam safety management and preparation of emergency action plans.

Mahajan said various seminar, conferences and training will be conducted in the project. Besides this, renovation of rest houses, tourism development is also the activity under this project, he added.