Tawi artificial lake project: Govt sets fresh deadline of April 2023 for completion
Jammu: Marred by “delays and cancellations” since its start in 2009, the Jammu and Kashmir government has set a fresh deadline of 2023 to complete the multi-crore artificial Tawi lake project in Jammu.
However, the deadline for completion of artificial pondage (lake) in the Tawi river has been set by April next year.
After missing the first target date in 2012, the contractor missed five other deadlines in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, when the contractor stopped work prompting authorities to cancel its project and order a probe.
Stating that the project has the potential to give a major facelift to Jammu city, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta directed the department to speed up the execution of the project so that the artificial pondage in the river is created by April next year. This was revealed by the Chief Secretary at a meeting to review the progress of a project related to the Tawi riverfront development in Jammu, officials said.
Giving details of the project, officials said that under Phase-I of the project, the first 2.7 kilometre stretch from the Bhagwatinagar bridge to the Bikram Chowk bridge, including the central island and riverfronts on both sides of river Tawi, will be developed while the 4.3 kilometre stretch beyond the Bikram Chowk bridge will be taken up under Phase-II later.
Laying down the timeline for completion of various activities under the project, the Chief Secretary directed the department to complete the process of allotment of contract by December and finish the construction of promenades, including the planned commercial and recreational assets on the riverfront within one to one-and-a-half years (November 2022 to April 2023).
The officials said a detailed project report (DPR) for the Phase-I project at a cost of Rs 194 crore has been finalised and the tender is expected to be floated within days. However, the entire project may take 1-1.5 years for completion, officials said.
Mehta asked the department to follow the “Build and Use” model wherein the facilities and amenities that are built should be thrown open for public use without waiting for the entire project to be completed.
“The department should open the amenities and facilities it builds for public use and should not wait for the whole project to finish before doing so,” he said.
The state government has spent more than Rs 57 crore on the project in the past decade, after its foundation stone was laid by the then chief minister Omar Abdullah on December 5, 2009. After missing the first target date in 2012, the contractor missed five other deadlines in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, when the contractor stopped work.
According to the initial project plan, an auto-mechanical barrage would be constructed on the river, one kilometre downstream of the main Tawi bridge. This will help create an artificial lake at Belicharana. The 1,500-metre-long and 600-metre-wide artificial lake, a first-of-its-kind here, will give a new dimension to tourism in Jammu city, officials said.
In Phase-II of the project, beautification and embankment works are to be taken up under the Tawi Riverfront Development Project for which an MoU has already been signed by Jammu Development Authority (JDA) with the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation (SRFDC). A DPR has been prepared in this regard.
As part of the beautification project, a park was inaugurated by former chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in the area in 2015.
