Mahanadi Godavari Link Project envisages construction of a storage reservoir on Mahanadi River at Manibhadra and a link canal from this reservoir to the Godavari River.
The Project comprises of the following components:
- The Govt. of Orissa proposed Manibhadra project across Mahanadi river near Denkarasahi village in Gania Block of Nayagarh district in Orissa with FRL 86.00 m, MWL 91.5 m, MDDL (Minimum Draw Down Level) 73.15 m with gross storage capacity of 6000 Mm3, live storage capacity of 4290 Mm3 and a power house at toe of dam with an installed capacity of 960 MW.For the purpose of the proposed link canal, The FRL and MDDL of Manibhadra reservoir will be raised to 91.0 m and 74.15 m respectively and then the gross storage will be 8520 Mm3 and the live storage will be 6608 Mm3 .
- The 827.700 km long link canal is proposed to take off from the right hand of the reservoir Manibhadra at the FSL of 74.00 m.
- A head regulator on the right flank of Manibhadra dam and a canal power house of installed capacity of 70 MW with one 30 MW standby unit.
- The Salia reservoir across Salia river near village Balugaon in BanpurTahasil of Khurda district in Orissa with FRL 58.52 m, gross storage capacity of 59.87 Mm3 , live storage capacity of 51.97 Mm3 and MDDL of 48.82 m. The link canal is proposed to out fall into Salia reservoir and to take off from it at RD 144.0 km. It is proposed to raise the FRL of the reservoir to 63.30 m.
- The existing Dowlaiswaram barrage across the river Godavari near Dowlaiswaram village in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh with a pond level of 13.64 m, to act as the final outfall point of the proposed link canal.
The link canal traverses through Nayagarh, Khurda, Ganjam and Gajapati districts of Orissa State and Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. The proposed link canal is designed to discharge 801.98 cumec at head, 352.79 cumec at the tail end.
Out of 12165 Mm3 of water proposed for diversion from the Manibhadra reservoir, 3790 Mm3 would be used for en route irrigation in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh States. It is envisaged to provide irrigation to a culturable command area of 256770 ha and 107189 ha utilizing 3184 Mm3 and 606 Mm3 of water, respectively in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh States. The link canal power house with an installed capacity of 70 MW will generate 197 million units of energy every year.
Apart from irrigation, it is also proposed to provide about 802 Mm3 of water for meeting the future domestic and industrial requirements in the enroute command area of the link canal. Transmission loss in the link canal is estimated to be 1073 Mm3 . It is envisaged that after meeting the projected requirements, out of the total diversion of 12165 Mm3 , a quantum of 6500 Mm3 would be finally transferred to the Godavari River through the link canal.
Direct net benefits per annum from the link project due to irrigation, domestic and industrial water supplies and power generation in the canal are estimated to be Rs. 116662 lakh.
The total cost of the link canal project is estimated to be Rs. 1754054 lakh at 2003-04 price level. Based on the quantity of water consumed enroute of the link canal, apportioned cost for enroute water supply is worked out to be Rs. 630182 lakhs and the annual cost to be Rs. 71732 lakhs. The Benefit Cost Ratio works out to 1.60 and the Internal rate of return works out to 12.77%.
