UP to open Upper Ganga Canal for navigation

The state is all set to offer the project for development — along with proposed 147-km long eight-lane access-controlled Upper Ganga Canal Expressway — to private investors.

The Expressway will connect Greater Noida with Purkazi in Muzaffarnagar,about 10 km short of the state’s border with Uttarakhand. About 80 km of the canal runs along the proposed expressway.

The developer will have to strengthen the canal for navigational purpose and reconstruct about 20 bridges to provide enough vertical clearance for class II vessels to pass. The other works,like navigational locks,will be built by the Irrigation Department.

It will be optional for the developer to take up navigation rights and purchase about 100 hectares of land to develop water parks and other recreational activities along with the Expressway.

While the canal has been found navigational from Haridwar in Uttaranchal to Dehra in Ghaziabad,Uttar Pradesh,easy navigation for class II vessels is available between Mussoorie and Purkazi in Muzaffarnagar. The project will be implemented in 36 months from the date of allotment.

The Request for Proposal will be issued this week,and the government is keen to allott the project before May-end.

Developed in 1854,the Upper Ganga Canal is one of the oldest irrigation facilities in the country. The main canal,around 290 kms long,runs from Haridwar to Kanpur.

The canal was developed as an irrigation-cum-navigation system,but it was used for navigation — mainly for inspection purpose — and even this stopped in 1930,said an official.

Its depth is suitable for class II navigation,which involves a horizontal clearance of 30 m to 60 m and a vertical clearance of 5 m from the full supply level of the canal. The main canal has an adequate bed width,varying from 37 m to 77.5 m,and adequate water discharge of approximately 260 to 80 cubic metre per second.

A senior official of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department said: “There is no doubt about the possibility of navigation in the canal,which is why three things in it have been given as a sweetener in the Expressway project. These are right for navigation,hydro power projects on seven fall points — at Nirgajini,Chitaura,Salawa,Bhola,Jani,Jauli and Dasna — with a total capacity of generating about 33 MW,and about 100 hectares of land which can be purchased by the developer for recreational facilities.”

In the pipeline
The government also plans to open up the Agra canal and Sharda canal for navigation. It is looking for a consultant to conduct a feasibility study to develop these two canals for Class I navigation — with a channel bottom width of about 17 m and top width of about 22.5 m and water depth of 3.12 m. Preliminary discussions have been held with RITES,a Government of India enterprise,for consultancy.