Andhra Pradesh: Spillway works at Polavaram in final stage as installation of girders begins

AMARAVATI: A significant milestone has been achieved in the Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh construction as the irrigation department commenced the process of placing the world's biggest girders on the spillway on Monday.
The irrigation department senior officials including superintending engineer (SE) Nagireddy have been working overtime for the past one week to commence the key phase of the project.The girders were placed on the 45 and 46 blocks of spillway.
After performing a traditional pooja at the site, the engineers and workers of the contractor firm MEIL kick-started work to set the girders on the spillway. This is one of the vital turning points in completing the project before the deadline. Executive engineers Adireddy, K Balakrishnamurthy, DEs K Muralikrishna, Rameshwar Naidu, R Laxmanrao and Meil general manager Angara Satishbabu were present.
Polavaram Project, a long-time dream of people of Andhra Pradesh, is expected to come true in a few months from now as the works are going on at a rapid pace. The contractor firm Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited (MEIL) is putting all its efforts to complete the project as early as possible, as the critical spillway works have now reached the final stage.
The major part of the Spillway works will be completed once girders are erected. Construction of 52 blocks of Spillway is now nearing completion.
Compared to laying concrete on flat land, concreting the narrow Piers at heights is a complex process. Moreover for a multipurpose project like Polavaram, it is much more complicated as it requires to follow stringent construction rules.
“The total length of the Spillway is 1.054 kms on which 196 girders would be erected on the Piers. Each Girder weighs about 62 tonnes and at present 110 girders are ready to be erected,” said Meil GM Satish Babu. He said that entire work related to setting up of girders would be completed within two months.
He explained that work for casting the rest of the girders is going on. Nearly 25 Cu.M of concrete is used to cast each girder. “All the main works of the project are completed except the erection of the gates once the girders were set up” said Satish Babu. MEIL is also taking measures to continue other works simultaneously even while carrying out the works related to the erection of girders. A massive crane of capacity 200 Tonnes is used for the erection process of Girders.