Ghatghar project to be completed by 2003

PUNE, Oct 2: The Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund OECF, a Japanese funding agency, by extending the time limit for its 11,000 million...

PUNE, Oct 2: The Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund OECF, a Japanese funding agency, by extending the time limit for its 11,000 million Yen aid upto the year 2003, has given a lease of life for the Ghatghar hydro power project located in the Western Ghats, bordering Ahmednagar and Thane districts.

Now handed over to Koyna projects, the Ghatghar is now slated for completion as the country8217;s first 250 MW capacity pump storage unit PSU having the dams constructed using the roller compacted concrete technology.

Delay in getting technical sanctions coupled with impediments in getting environmental clearances had left the fate of the PSU hanging for the past decade. The Japanese government, which announced economic sanctions against India after the Pokhran nuclear tests, created apprehensions about the future of the project, which is receiving Japanese aid.

The project, along the unassailable Kokan kada on the upper ridge of Bhandardara dam, envisages two dams, one along the Pravara river at Ghatghar village with a height of 478 meters and water storage capacity of 5.87 million cubic meters. Another dam will be constructed at Chondh village near Shahapur in Thane district. This dam will be 390 meters high and will have 3.80 million cubic meters water capacity.

A sheer drop of about 425 meters down the Ghatghar dam would take the water from the upper dam to Chondh dam in two pressure shafts, generating 250 MW power on its way, catering to the State8217;s power needs for about six hours a day, during the peak hours. The water would be lifted up during the off-peak hours using additional power which would otherwise go waste.

The project was recently transferred to the Koyana irrigation division, Koyna project Chief Engineer S.N. Huddar, told The Indian Express.

The irrigation officials for the first time are using the roller compacted concrete technique, Huddar revealed. As it will be used for the first time in India, a team of Japanese technologists will visit Ghatghar on October 6.

Story continues below this ad

The project is estimated to cost Rs. 1,000 crore. In 1988, the estimated cost was Rs. 179.61 crore. This will also be the biggest project in the State which will produce power with the pump storage scheme. At present, the pump storage scheme is used at Ujani and Jayakwadi Paithan projects to produce electricity.

The dam and irrigation production project will need 341.35 hectares of land. Of these, 258 hectares is owned privately, 21.26 hectares is of the government and 63.09 hectares is of the forest department. Under the project, 177.86 hectares land will be acquired from Ahmednagar district and 80.14 hectares will be acquired in Thane district. Only 25 families will have to be rehabilitated for the completion of the project.