Vijayawada: Nearly 71 lakh cubic meters of sand and silt is available in Krishna River for Amaravati capital city construction. The sand deposits are available from Prakasam barrage to Vaikuntapuram village, which comes under capital limits in Guntur district.
The officials of the irrigation department and Dredging Corporation of India jointly estimated the sand deposits. The sand dredging works will be conducted from January. Besides, nearly 64 lakh cubic meters of sand and silt is available in Godavari river at Rajamahendravaram.
According to preliminary estimates, nearly Rs 300 crore is required for total sand dredging works while the government may gain Rs 750 crore from sand sale operations.
According to officials, the works are multi beneficial as the sand and silt in Krishna River can be utilized for capital construction and also water storage can be increased up to 3 TMC feet from the present 1.5 TMC feet level at Prakasam barrage. The dredging works will be taken up one km outside from Prakasam Barrage. According to present plans, the works also will be continued up to 14 kms from the barrage.
Moreover, sand transportation will also be very easy to the capital location when it is beside Krishna River. Apart from this, 14-lakh cubic meters of silt are available in the Krishna River and it could be utilized for various construction works including roads formation said an official.
On the other hand, sand and silt of about 64 lakh cubic meters is available in Godavari River and that would be sold completely.
Krishna delta irrigation department chief engineer, K. Sudhakar said that the Dredging Corporation of India has been asked to provide dumping places in dredging area across the 14 kms stretch from Prakasam Barrage.
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