Work on third flood protection wall along the Krishna in Vijayawada nears completion

The ₹400-crore project can withstand up to 12 lakh cusecs of floodwater, say officials

Work going on at a brisk pace at the site in Vijayawada on Thursday. Once completed, the structure will prevent inundation of thousands of homes along the river during the monsoon. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. Giri

The third phase of construction of the flood retaining wall along the Krishna in Vijayawada is nearing completion.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy laid the foundation stone for the retaining wall project in 2021. Once completed, it will provide respite from annual flooding during the monsoon for thousands of residents of Krishna Lanka and neighbouring areas.

The retaining wall, with a height of 10.76 metres, was built in three phases. After the construction of the 1.20 km-long second wall, between Varadhi and Koti Nagar was completed in 2022, work on the third wall, between Padmavathi Ghat and Varadhi began. During the first phase, a 2.20-km long wall was built from Koti Nagar to Yanamalakaduru.

“Work related to the third phase is over, but sand filling, being done to support the wall, will take two more months. In any case, all construction work on the nearly 5 km-long wall, covering the areas lying between Padmavathi Ghat and Yanamalakaduru, will be over much before the arrival of monsoon this year,” Krishna Rao, Executive Engineer in the Water Resources Department, said.

More than ₹400 crore has been spent so far on the project, Mr. Krishna Rao said.

Over one lakh residents can heave a sigh of relief as the flood protection wall can withstand up to 12 lakh cusecs of floodwater. The maximum force of floodwater that has hit the banks till date was 11 lakh cusecs, Mr. Krishna Rao said.

Meanwhile, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has also expedited work on the construction of a park coming up along the retaining wall, in view of the elections. The area along the second retaining wall stretching 1.2 km is being used for developing a park as part of the city beautification programme. It will also prevent illegal constructions from coming up, said A.S.N. Prasad, Executive Engineer, VMC.

The park, coming up at a cost of ₹7.8 crore, will have a walking track, a tree-like canopy, entry plazas, gym areas, play areas, among others. “Work on the entrance is over. We are doing our best to complete construction of the park before the notification for the elections is issued,” Mr. Prasad said.