L&T Construction, the construction arm of Larsen & Toubro, has completed the Medigadda Barrage, which is part of the Kaleshwaram project, in 24 months.

The mega structure, part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project, was inaugurated today by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.

The Medigadda Barrage will be a major part of the vital irrigation infrastructure, to lift an estimated 180 TMC of water per year from the river Godavari to the Sripada Yellampalli Project to provide drinking water, facilitate irrigation and meet the industrial needs in 23 districts of Telangana. The dream project of the Chief Minister was executed on a fast track mode, and includes a 1.6-km-long barrage across the Godavari, equipped with 85 gates, piers and associated guide bunds and flood bunds of 18.03 km on either side of the barrage.

The completion of this project by L&T, the first-of-its-kind in the Indian construction industry, set several records in terms of sheer use of voluminous material such as concrete and steel in record time in a challenging operating environment.

“We delivered a project of this magnitude and complexity to international quality and safety standards,” said S N Subrahmanyan, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director, L&T.

“L&T is in the business of transforming people’s lives with the defining infrastructure that we build and we are delighted that the Medigadda Barrage will help convert thousands of hectares into arable, cultivable lands and bring water to thirsty millions in the state of Telangana.”

The magnitude of the project can be gauged from the fact that it involved 1.8 crore cubic metres of earthwork excavation, 18.5 lakh cubic metres of concreting work (equivalent to seven times that of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa), 1.35 lakh MT of steel work (equivalent to more than 15 times used in building the Eiffel Tower), 5.5 lakh square meters of formwork and over 25,0000 MT of hydro-mechanical works, to mention a few.

“The terrain and conditions were extremely challenging, but we were able to deliver in line with our client’s requirements,” said S V Desai, Executive Vice-President, Head – Heavy Civil Infrastructure, the business vertical of L&T Construction that executed the project. “Considering the speed of execution, we set quite a few world records in the process and yoked the enormous benefits of digitalisation for the successful execution of this project,” he said.

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