Gujarat government has put Kalpasar project on fast track and has intended to start the works in year 2012 with target to complete the project before year 2020, however there are pollution related obstructions that are now delaying the final report of the project.
According to sources, Kalpasar dam will have waters of six rivers of Gujarat, however it is found that the water coming out from this river is polluted. The six rivers include Dhadhar, Mahi, Sabarmati and Narmada river.
According to insiders, Dr. M.S.Patel, Secretary of Kalpasar Project has sent a letter to state’s industry department Principal Secretary Shri Maheshwar Sahu on 8 December stating that the six rivers that meet Arabian sea in Kalpsar project’s proposed area are creating so much pollution that the issue is creating problem when the department is in process to prepare the final report. The letter states that the quality of dam water would be very important in Kalpsar project, because it would be used for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes. The industries located on the banks of the rivers are dumping pollution to the rivers which ultimately mixes in the sea. GIDC does not take enough steps to prevent this and thus the body is not helpful.
It should be mentioned here that Nagpur based NIRI’s scientist Dr. S.R.Vate is leading the team of experts involved in preparation of report on Kalpsar project based on all kinds of related data.
The government has to pay Rs. 29 crore for study report of this project to Institute of Ocean Technology. Earlier the estimate of entire Kalpasar project was 1 lakh crore Rs but now, as the government has dropped tidal power project, the over all estimated project cost has come down to about Rs. 35000 crore. The works of this project will be handed over to national construction company.
Due to Kalpsar, about 200 km distance will be shortened between Bhavnagar and Surat. Kalpsar will be capable of storing 10,000 million square meter water which is double compare to the storage capacity of Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam. The project is realized, will provide irrigation facility to 10.54 lakh hector land of six districts that are located around the bay of Khambhat region. There are plans to generate wind and solar energy. The project will also provide constant water supply to more than 60 reservoirs located in nearby region.
An artist’s impression of the Bhavnagar-Dahej dam road with windmails and railroads, too
Kalpasar fact file
• Dam’s length: About 30 km
• Full reservoir level: 3 metres
• Live storage: 10,500 mcm
• Reservoir area: Approx 2000 sq km
• Water envisaged for irrigation: 6558 mcm
• Irrigation command:10.54 lakh hectares
• Drinking water supply:900 mcm
• Industrial water supply: 500 mcm
• Life of reservoir: 500 years
• Land improvement:7,00,000 hectares
• Land to be reclaimed:1,50,000 to 2,00,000 hectares
• Reduction of distance to travel between Bhavnagar to south Gujarat: 150 km
Effluent treatment plants and neutralization of acidic/basic nature of chemicals must be set up before discarding waste. Either today or tomorrow we have to deal with industrial waste pollution problem. Better do it now
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Friends,
Issue is only development. Need to resolve basic problems.
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FOR ALL SUCH PROBLEMS TECHNOLOGY IS AVAILABLE, WHY NOT MAKE ALL SUCH INDUSTRIES RESPONSIBLE & ASK THEM TO CLEAN UP THEIR DISCHARGE EFFLUENTS, THEY CANNOT POLLUTE NATIONAL & STATE RIVERS, GUJ MUST SET A NATIONAL STANDARD FOR THIS.
BUT GUJ GIVT SHLD GO AHEAD WITH KALPASAR PROJECT & COMPLETE ON SCHEDULE. IT WILL BE AGREAT NATIONAL ASSET.
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Im a nation of Hindus it is a shame to see our Mother rivers being raped by pollution
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this is an awesome project….
it would be superb to have had the tidal power as it would generate 2GW, but obviously, too much money required,,,and the corrupt central govt will not fund it, their corrupt bellies are bigger!!
this project will be ‘one step for guj govt(modiji); but a giant leap for gujaratis’
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-Kalpasar Department intends to recover the cost of the project by selling or leasing the 2,000 sq km of land that would be reclaimed by building the 30-km long Bhavnagar-Dahej fresh water dam across the Gulf of Khambat that will block tidal waves. The department will make this land available to industrial houses or projects to be taken up as publicprivate partnership. The department estimates to recover more than Rs. 50,000 crore this way which is the sum needed to complete the project. Apart form the revenue from the land, the project will earn about Rs 1000 crore per annum from the toll collected by the vehicles that will use the road to be built on the dam to connect south Gujarat with Saurashtra. A survey by L&T concluded that nearly 100,000 vehicles will pass on the Bhavnagar-Dahej dam road daily and the toll tax expected is Rs 1,000 crore per annum.
-The 2000 sq km reservoir will contain about 10,000 million cubic metre of fresh water which will be used to irrigate 10.54 lakh hectares of coastal Saurashtra, from Bhavnagar to the Machchhu river in the Gulf of Kutch. The water will also be available for drinking and industrial use.
-The work on the much delayed Kalpasar project will begin by January next year(2012) in its pruned version without the tidal power component. The original Rs 1.4 lakh crore proposition envisaged a dam across the Gulf of Khambat for generating tidal power and establishing the reservoir. The planned road link over the dam will reduce the distance between Saurashtra and south Gujarat by nearly more than 150 km. The leaner project is expected to cost Rs 50,000 crore and will be completed by 2020.
- The tidal power generation was a major component of the project. However, the cost was making the plan financially not feasible. Besides, it would have taken almost 15 years to complete the project. Patel and other officials of the Kalpsar department held several meetings with stake-holders in Bahavnagar, Ahmedabad, Kheda, and Surat districts and convinced them of the need for scrapping the tidal power component.
-The new version of the project now has windmills. Wind energy major Suzlon has collected data for two years in the region and found the potential for generating 1500 mega watt of electricity. Suzlon submitted its report to the department on December 15, last year. According to sources in the department, Suzlon itself is eager to enter into an MoU for tapping this energy.
-The revised version of the project has led to the scrapping of a proposed port at Dholera. The chief minister’s office has approved of the changes as the port could come up downstream later on.
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INDIAN Reply:
January 7th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Great information!
Thank you.
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please complete steel needed for our all Gujarati people plz…………..
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