Punjab Water Resources and Housing & Urban Development Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria on Tuesday said that the water resources department has completed 60% work of Shahpurkandi Main Dam, despite the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The project will hopefully start generating power in 2023, he said, while adding that on completion, this project would generate 208 MW power besides letting Ranjit sagar dam to run as a peaking station.
Talking to the media here, he said that it would also provide intensive irrigation facilities in 37,000 hectares in Punjab and J&K. The work of power house will be started in January 2021. The direct benefit from this project shall be worth Rs 800 crore (Rs 475 crore from power generation of Shahpurkandi and peaking of RSD, Rs 144 crore additional power benefit from UBDC and Rs. 228 crore from augmentation of irrigation in UBDC system), he added.
He further said that in a bid to provide permanent succor from water-logging and ensure optimum use of canal water, the relining project of Sirhind feeder and Rajasthan feeder would be completed in two years. Punjab has completed the relining work of 17-km-long section of the Sirhind Feeder at a cost of Rs 80.51 crore in districts Sri Muktsar Sahib, Faridkot and Ferozepur, and remaining work of relining on the canal would be taken up during the planned canal closure from 18 January to 22 February 2021. The total cost of the relining project would be Rs 671.478 crore.