Lakhwar Dam
Lakhwar-Vyasi Dam project on Yamuna River, includes under-construction Lakhwar Dam and Power Station, Vyasi Dam, Hathiari Power Station and Katapathar Barrage, near the Lakhwar town in Kalsi block of Dehradun district of Uttarakhand in India, for the purpose of irrigation of 40,000 hectare land and total 927 MW hydroelectric power generation. "Lakhwar Dam" is a gravity dam near the Lohari village with 300MW power generation capacity. "Vyasi Dam" will be built 5 km downstream along with 120 MW "Hathiari Power Station" further 0.5 km downstream. "Katapathar Barrage", with the maximum ponding water level at 514.5m elevation, will be built further 2.75 km downstream of the Hathiari Power Station to supply the water to stakeholder states. Project will hold 580 million cubic metres water during monsoon and release into Yamuna during dry months.
Construction of Lakhwar dam commenced in early 2018 with the 4 year target completion date of December 2022. Vyasi dam has already been under construction since 2016.
History
In 1976, Planning Commission granted approval for the project. In 1986 environmental clearance was granted and construction on the tall dam began in 1987 by Jaypee Group under the supervision of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, when the area belonged to Uttar Pradesh. In 1992, the construction was halted at 35 percent progress after Jaypee Group pulled out due to the lack of funding. In 2008, it was notified as a national project by the union govt and the union govt will bear the 90% cost. In November 2013, construction restarted on the Vyasi Dam and it once again received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests in February 2014. Vyasi Dam was expected to be completed in 2016, revised to 2018. Project was stalled for almost 30 years, which was expedited with enhanced compensation payment in 2016 to the displaced villagers.Current status
During 2016, Vyasi Dam and Hathiari Power Station were being constructed simultaneously, and Lakhwar Dam was planned to be constructed after the completion of Vyasi dam, due to the lack of funds. All approvals are in place for the whole project including the Lakhwar Dam, except for the funding from the union government.In April 2016, things were expedited when Government of India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, granted clearance for the release of funding for the whole project at an estimated cost of INR39.7 billion, including INR25 billion for the irrigation component to build dam and canals and INR13,9 billion for the power generation component. Subsequently, in January 2018, bid for the construction of Lakhwar dam and 300MW power station was called by the Uttrakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited. Soon after in early 2018, Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone, and construction commenced after contracts were awarded with a target completion deadline of 4 years by December 2022.