The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) Phase-II & Phase-III with financial assistance of the World Bank (WB), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to improve safety and operational performance of selected dams across the whole country, along with institutional strengthening with system wide management approach.
The cost of the project is Rs 10,211 crore. The project will be implemented over 10 years’ duration in two phases, each of six years duration with two years overlapping from April 2021 to March 2031.
Of the total project cost, the share of external funding is Rs 7,000 crore, and balance Rs 3,211 crore is to be borne by the concerned Implementing Agencies (IAs). The contribution of the Central government is Rs 1,024 crore as loan liability and Rs 285 crore as counterpart funding for Central Component.
The project envisages to improve the safety and performance of selected existing dams and associated appurtenances in a sustainable manner; strengthen the dam safety institutional setup in participating states as well as at Central level; and explore alternative incidental means at a few of selected dams to generate incidental revenue for sustainable operation and maintenance of the dams.
The project will initially cover 19 states and three Central Agencies. The programme will fund physical rehabilitation of key dams as well as capacity building of dam operators in order to ensure availability of trained and skilled manpower for better operation of dams.
India ranks third globally after China and US, with 5,334 large dams in operation. In addition, about 411 dams are under construction. There are also several thousand smaller dams. The dams and reservoirs store approximately 300 billion cu mtr of water annually.
Phase-I of the DRIP programme, which covered 223 dams in seven states, improved the safety and operational performance of selected dams, along with institutional strengthening through a system wide management approach.
Moreover, the Dam Health and Rehabilitation Monitoring (DHARMA), a system to monitor the health of dams, has been developed and being used by 18 states. A seismic hazard analysis information system (SHAISYS) has also been developed.
The DRIP Phase-II, co-financed by WB and AIIB with USD 250 million each, covers large dams in 19 states of the country.
The scheme is focused on mitigating the risks of dam failure and ensuring safety of people, riverine ecology and property located downstream of these selected dams, through structural as well as non-structural measures like physical rehabilitation, preparation of operation and maintenance manuals, emergency action plans, early warning system, among others.
The states will borrow from external agencies to rehabilitate their dams, based on their assessed needs. The project also facilitates provision for partnerships with academic institutions like IISc and IITs and capacity building of five Central agencies along with dam owners.
The scheme envisages comprehensive rehabilitation of 736 existing dams located across the country. The dams to be taken up for rehabilitation by the Implementing Agency are – 31 dams in Andhra Pradesh, five in Chhattisgarh, two in Goa, six in Gujarat, 35 in Jharkhand, 41 in Karnataka, 28 in Kerala, 27 in Madhya Pradesh, 167 in Maharashtra, two in Manipur, six in Manipur, 36 in Odisha, 12 in Punjab, 189 in Rajasthan, 59 in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Telangana, 39 in Uttar Pradesh, six in Uttarakhand, nine in West Bengal, two by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and five by the Damodar Valley Corporation.
The project is likely to generate employment opportunities equivalent to approximately 10,00,000 person days for unskilled workers, and 2,50,000 person days for working professionals.
The programme complements provisions in the Dam Safety Bill 2019, by ensuring capacity building of the dam owners as well as the proposed regulators, and also creates necessary protocols for dam safety.
