Shimla to get water from Kol Dam by 2022 :

1. The Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL) has set 2022 as the new deadline for completion of the Rs315-crore Kol Dam lift drinking water scheme that will provide 24X7 supply to residents of the capital city.

2. The Kol Dam project aims at proving 67 MLD water daily to residents, taking care of the water needs of the city up to 2050. At present, Shimla on an average gets supply of over 40 MLD and an additional 67 MLD water daily from Kol Dam will make it 107 MLD, which will provide 24X7 water supply to local residents.

3. The Kol Dam water scheme was conceived in 2016 and it took the SMC and the state government three years to speed up the work and have received bids from six companies for the project and it will take us two months to examine their techno-financial details. The tender will be awarded to the best bidder according to government sources.

4. The best bidder would be given three years and six months to complete the work. The contractor will maintain the project for 10 years. If all goes well, hope the project will be complete by 2022.The estimated cost of the project is Rs315 crore. It is being funded by the World Bank and have already received Rs280 crore from the world bank. The SJPNL has started the process to get the forest clearance for the project. 

5. The SJPNL would construct the main water treatment unit at Shakrori — located between Sunni town and Chaba on the Sutlej. After the water is lifted for treatment, the main water pipeline would pass through Devidhar and Dumin to the main Sanjauli storage tank. SJPNL will construct a storage tank at Dhalli for this water scheme, which will have the storage capacity of six MLD. The current distribution system in the city will be upgraded.

Kol Dam :

The Koldam Dam Hydropower Project commonly known as Kol Dam, is an embankment dam on the Satluj River upstream of the Dehar Power House. It is 18 km from Bilaspur off the Chandigarh-Manali Highway (NH-21) near Barmana, Himachal Pradesh. The main purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power generation and it will support an 800 MW power station. The dam was constructed by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The foundation stone for the dam was laid on 5 June 2000 by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On 14 January 2004, main construction on the dam began. Due to problems associated with habitat and forest loss, the project has been delayed. Attempts to impound the reservoir first failed in December 2013 due to problems with sealing the diversion tunnels. By 18 March 2014, a fourth attempt to seal the tunnels and fill the lake was underway. Repairs were made and another unsuccessful impounding was reached in April 2014 as the diversion tunnel continued to leak. Another period of impounding began on 3 November 2014 and finished on 3 January 2015. A tunnel still leaked though but authorities were confident they would have the power station operational by April. Generator commissioning was originally scheduled for 2009 but was rescheduled to 2015.