The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `Ganga-Kumari scheme more viable than interlinking project'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`Ganga-Kumari scheme more viable than interlinking project'

By Our Special Correspondent

By Our Special

Correspondent

CHENNAI, JUNE 9. A non-governmental group from Madurai today said its project on creating a network of Indian rivers systems was more viable than the National Water Development Agency's interlinking of rivers project.

The National Waterways Development (NAWAD) Council Chairman, A.C.Kamaraj, said the council's Ganga-Kumari National Waterways project would be more cost-effective and take shorter implementation time. The Task Force on Interlinking of Rivers had an Independent Group of Experts (IGE) that was looking at alternative plans. Prof. Kamaraj said the Ganga-Kumari project was one of the seven alternative plans shortlisted by the Centre. "We will be submitting computer simulations this week and the matter will be discussed at a meeting to be held in New Delhi next month."

The Ganga-Kumari project could be completed in 10 years at a cost of just over Rs. 5 lakh crores, which was less than the government's proposed cost of Rs 5.50 lakh crores. He was looking at private funding for a Rs.20-crore feasibility study, which could be completed in a year.

In the Networking of Rivers Project (NWP), Prof. Kamaraj said the national waterways would act as a 15,000-km reservoir and not as a mere series of link canals.

This reservoir would have a parallel `balancing reservoir' canal to take care of flooding. They would both help to irrigate more areas, provide drinking water and function as a navigable waterway round the year. The navigable canal could help to save Rs.65,000 crores in the oil import bill.

The canals would be fed only with excess flood waters which went waste into the sea. He said Tamil Nadu alone would get 750 thousand million cubit feet of water out of 1,500 tmcft received by south India. Prof. Kamaraj said on Tuesday he met the Tamil Nadu Finance Minister, C Ponnaiyan, and got in-principle backing from the government.

However, he cautioned that each day's delay in the project meant a loss of Rs. 1,000 crores. If agencies and governments cooperated by providing more data, the feasibility study would cost less.

The project could be completed without any dispute between states; about 60,000 mw of hydroelectric power would be generated; agricultural production increased and millions of acres of new farm land irrigated throughout the year. The project would also enable a revenue return of 20 per cent of the original cost every year.

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