'Height of new dam will be reduced if more land gets submerged'

“The height of the proposed new vented dam will be reduced, if more land gets submerged,” said District-in-Charge Minister Krishna Palemar.

Speaking after offering Ganga pooja along with Mayor Shanker Bhat at the Thumbe vented dam here on Tuesday, he said “we will not put people to hardship by submerging more land by increasing the height of the dam.”

He said “1,083 acre land will be submerged owing to the new vented dam. Of which, 173.7 acre is government land and remaining is owned by private. A survey will be conducted to assess the area which will be submerged.”

Mayor Shanker Bhat who will be completing his tenure said “I have not made any personal achievement as a Mayor. Collectively we have made lot of achievement in MCC limits.”

He said: “earlier the city was getting 15 MGD water. After the implementation of ADB project, 34 to 35 MGD water is being supplied to the City. As a result, 75 per cent of the region in city gets 24 hours water supply. Within few days all the 6 lakh population of the City will get 24X7 water.”

Owing to the illegal water connections, 3 to 4 MGD water was getting wasted. All the illegal water connections have been removed in the City, he added.

STPs

Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) and Mangalore Special Economic Zone Ltd has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the operation and maintenance of sewage treatment plants (STPs). The STPs will be handed over to MSEZ soon. Nearly 80 per cent of the work on underground drainage has been completed. The work will be completed within six months.

Road

Bhat said: “MCC has undertaken 36 kms of concreting of road in the city limits. Of which, 32 km roads have been completed. About 9 acre land were acquired in the city for road widening purpose through negotiation. Tender has been invited for laying interlock bricks for the interior roads. Tenders have also been invited for laying the footapth, drainage, storm water drains in the newly concreted roads in the city.

Twinning programme

Corporation of Delta-Canada Mayor Dix Nelson will be visiting Mangalore in May as part of twinning programme between the two cities. Bhat said that Mangalore City Corporation will reap benefits from the programme with regard to development.

Present vented dam

The present vented dam across Nethravathi was constructed in 1993 and has the capacity to store 9,562 million litre water. The dam has 134 piers and 135 vents. The dam is 323.1 metre length and four metre height. During the peek summer if 160 MLD water is supplied to the City, the water stored in the dam can supply water for 10 to 15 days.

New vented dam

A coffer dam has been completed for the construction of spill way for the stretch of about 80 metres. Blasting is partly completed for laying of foundation for a length of about 25 metres. The work of the dam is under progress.

Though the work on the dam was handed over to the contractor on January 30, 2009, owing to various reasons the work could not be undertaken. However, the now work has commenced and is expected to complete in 2 years, said Palemar.

The new dam can store 14.47 million cubic litre water and can supply for 120 days without any inflow to the dam.  Deputy Mayor Rajani Dugganna, MLA Yogish Bhat, Coastal Development Authority Chairman Nagaraj Shetty, Opposition leader in MCC Harinath and others were present on the occasion.