<p class="bodytext">The bridge-cum-barrage connecting Harekala Kadavu and Adyar at an estimated cost of Rs 194 crore will be completed in two years, MLA U T Khader said on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The long-pending project was announced in the previous budget. This is one of the biggest projects taken up by the Minor Irrigation Department.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The tender was entrusted to a firm owned by entrepreneur G Shankar. The bridge will be 520-metre-long and 10-metre-wide. Light vehicles can pass on the bridge on a 7.5-metre road. Pedestrian paths of 1.25-metre width each will be laid on both sides of the road,” said Khader.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“At present, the backwater flows to Thumbe dam at Adyar. With the construction of a bridge-cum-barrage, the water problem can be solved. The water will be stored for a three-kilometre stretch from Adyar to Thumbe,” he explained.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Groundwater table</p>.<p class="bodytext">The MLA said that the construction of a barrage will help rejuvenate groundwater table.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The water will be supplied to not only Ullal but also parts of Mangaluru when water scarcity peaks during summer. Water can be impounded at a height of four metre in the barrage. But it was decided to store water up to a height of two metres (18.7 million cubic metre),” said Khader.</p>
<p class="bodytext">The bridge-cum-barrage connecting Harekala Kadavu and Adyar at an estimated cost of Rs 194 crore will be completed in two years, MLA U T Khader said on Wednesday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The long-pending project was announced in the previous budget. This is one of the biggest projects taken up by the Minor Irrigation Department.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The tender was entrusted to a firm owned by entrepreneur G Shankar. The bridge will be 520-metre-long and 10-metre-wide. Light vehicles can pass on the bridge on a 7.5-metre road. Pedestrian paths of 1.25-metre width each will be laid on both sides of the road,” said Khader.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“At present, the backwater flows to Thumbe dam at Adyar. With the construction of a bridge-cum-barrage, the water problem can be solved. The water will be stored for a three-kilometre stretch from Adyar to Thumbe,” he explained.</p>.<p class="CrossHead">Groundwater table</p>.<p class="bodytext">The MLA said that the construction of a barrage will help rejuvenate groundwater table.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“The water will be supplied to not only Ullal but also parts of Mangaluru when water scarcity peaks during summer. Water can be impounded at a height of four metre in the barrage. But it was decided to store water up to a height of two metres (18.7 million cubic metre),” said Khader.</p>