What a difference in the progress of Polavaram project works! One can clearly distinguish it from the pace of work during the erstwhile government. During the rein of Chandrababu Naidu, it was all an illusion with graphics, but now the pace of the works is a visible reality; the determination of present Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, supplemented with an effective action plan has given the needed momentum to the project works, which have now reached a critical stage. With the fast pace of works related to the spillway, now it has come to a stage where even the floods in the Godavari also cannot affect the progress of works.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is more keen to complete Polavaram project for fulfilling the aspirations of people. Accordingly, MEIL has increased the pace of the construction works and already completed construction of Piers for 52 blocks in the spillway. If the Girders are installed on Spillway Piers, it can be considered that the majority works of Spill Channel are over. A total of 48 gates would be installed here. By the time MEIL took up this project, works related to Piers were in different stages. Now they are completed up to 52 meters of height. Compared to laying concrete on flat land, concreting narrow Piers is a complex process. If it is for a multi-purpose project like Polavaram, it is much more complicated as it requires following stringent construction rules. With its proven mettle, MEIL is completing this work without any hiccups.
For the first time in the world, the efforts are at a superfast track mode to install the heavy gates for the Polavaram project. There are only two projects in the world have this hydraulics system gates. These are the first heaviest gates with the hydraulic system in the world. To make this to happen by this year end, the process of placing the Girders on the spillway has begun on Monday. After a traditional pooja performed, the Girders placed on the 45 and 46 blocks of the spillway. After completion of placing Girders on the spillway, the hydraulic gates will be installed. With this process, the floods will not affect the progress of project work. The existing reservoirs in the state have the electro-mechanical gates. The operating cost is very higher as the iron ropes to be changed frequently. To overcome this, MEIL is planning to install cost-effective and most advance hydraulic gates in the Polavaram project.
A significant milestone has achieved in the Polavaram Project history. The process of placing the world's biggest Girders on the spillway has commenced on Monday.
On the whole, 196 Girders would be installed on the Spillway Piers of Polavaram. Each Girder weighs about 62 tones. At present, 110 Girders are ready for installation. All these were prepared within two months, while work for the rest is going on. Nearly 25 Cum of concrete and 10 tonnes of steel used for making each Girder. It will take at least one month time for installing all these Girders in order on the Piers on the spillway, under the supervision of engineers. After installing the Girders, a mesh kind of structure would be formed using iron rods. A concrete road would be constructed above this mesh structure. At least 5000 Cum of concrete is required for construction of this road. If these works completed, it would mean all the main works of the project except the fitting of gates are over.
By the end of June, MEIL could complete 1.11 lakh Cum of concrete work in Spill channel. It could also complete 1.41 lakh Cum in Spillway, 3.10 lakh Cum of concrete work in Hydro-electric project, along with 10.64 lakh Cum of earthwork, 1.14 lakh Cum of stone crushing and 10.86 lakh Cum of Vibro-compaction works. With all this, MEIL is confidently moving ahead with a firm determination to complete all the project works within the expected time frame.
Polavaram multi-purpose project is being constructed to provide irrigation water for 7.2 lakh acres, 960 MWs of power generation, transporting 80 TMCs of Godavari water to Krishna River above Prakasham Barrage, providing 23.44 TMCs of drinking water to Vishakapatnam city and also 28.5 lakh people belonging to 540 villages. On this front, the ongoing works like completion of the spillway, earth-cum-rock fill dam and other ancillary works, construction of hydro-electric project and cofferdam at upper and lower reach, are very critical for this project
MLC Lella Appi Reddy, submitted a formal letter to the Deputy Secretary of the GAD 
