Polavaram project: Gates will be erected on Dec 17

The radial gates of the Polavaram project will be erected on 17 December, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said after a review meeting in Amaravati. Naidu also directed the officials to speed up the work.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that the main work of the cofferdam, spill channel and approach channel will be completed by end of April 2019. The main contractors of Polavaram project Navayuga firm informed Naidu that they are going to set a world record in executing the highest quantity of concrete work per day.

The Chief Minister said that officials should maintain records to establish world records in speedy completion of project work. He also enquired about the caved in approach road to the project. Officials informed him that there was no connection between the damage to the approach road and the blasting work taken up for the project. They claimed that the approach road had caved in due to recent rainfall.

Naidu directed the officials to invite soil testing experts to examine the reasons for the damage of approach road. He asked them to submit a detailed report on the damage of the road. The Chief Minister directed the Tourism officials to prepare proposals to make the Polavaram an international tourism destination.

Minister for Water Resources Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, principal secretary of water resources department Mr Sasibushan Kumar, engineer in chief M Venkateshwara Rao and others were present.