Mysuru: The renovation works being undertaken at the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam has received the prestigious World Bank Award of Excellence in Rehabilitation Work(s) Civil – Spring 2017. The award has been given in recognition of the excellence in quality of rehabilitation works and compliance with statutory, regulatory and environment requirements.

The award has been constituted by Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) of the World Bank and the award citation bears the signature of Project Director, DRIP and Task Team Leader (TTL), who is a World Bank staffer who coordinates the activity of the project. The award was presented in New Delhi on May 30.

The renovation works began in July 2016 with an estimated cost of Rs. 36 crore and is scheduled to end in July 2018. According to project engineers, works will be completed three months before the deadline. World Bank is funding the project up to 90 percent and the remaining 10 percent is funded by the State Government.

The Central Water Commission (CWC) has approved the project and the dam restoration has been handed over to Ferro Concrete Construction (India) located at Bhagirathapur in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The CWC has appointed Water Resource Development Organisation (WRDO) as a nodal agency to supervise and implement the project.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Executive Engineer of Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited K. Basavaraje Gowda said that as soon as the CWC approved the project, a detailed inspection of the 100-year-old dam was undertaken and holes on the structure were identified through ‘Poly Ironite Ceramic Cementitious Pointing.’

Holes and cracks are being filled using Crystalline Technology through Fibre Short Crate. The process is being videographed for precision and the holes will be sealed through grating process.

He said that the sealing of holes and cracks would strengthen the dam which has not seen repairs since decades.

Other works that are being undertaken at the KRS dam include cavity filling, pointing, horizontal and vertical dam body grouting. Over 250 workers, technical experts and engineers are undertaking the works at the dam, he said and added that officials from World Bank, CWC and the WRDO conduct regular inspection on the progress of the works.

“We had a technical meeting in New Delhi on May 30 and the award was presented to Water Resource Department Engineer Prabhakar and Project Director Madhava,” he said. In Karnataka, the State government has taken up works to restore 29 small and big dams and the works at KRS Dam has been receiving national awards since three years, he added.

The project is supervised by Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited Chief Engineer D. Manjunath, Superintending Engineer K.G. Vijay Kumar, Asst. Executive Engineer C. Vasudeva and Asst. Engineer Kishore Kumar.