The Challenges

The Indus Water Treaty agreement between India and Pakistan mandated that the reservoir had to be impounded before Aug. 20, 2011. Following this, the project team had 25 days to complete the dam's apron structure.

“To construct this apron, we had to excavate the foundation at [elevation] 1,196 m, and the excavated muck had to be disposed at elevation 1,220 m, with the level difference of 24 m, in the absence of haul roads and with limited space,” shares R. Rajendrakumar, HCC project manager. “We deployed seven excavators to complete the work.”

Another major challenge was seepage from the downstream cofferdam. The team deployed 20 units of 50-hp-capacity dewatering pumps, each with a discharge capacity of 6,000 liters per minute. Each pump was run continuously for 25 days to avoid obstruction during construction of the apron. The team completed the construction, and the reservoir was impounded during the first week of August 2011.

It also encountered hurdles during excavation of the tail-race tunnel through Adit-IV, upstream and downstream in the monsoon season. It was evident from the construction drawings that the bottom level of the tunnel would be lower than the riverbed level. However, all these factors were overcome, and the major works for commissioning of the project was done.

Time for Power

The project is substantially complete, and finishing work is in progress. Mechanical spinning of all the four power-turbine units was executed in March 2013, and the Uri-II project will soon be operational.