The Government of India on Thursday decided to release Rs 250 crore in this financial year for setting up of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the multipurpose Polavaram irrigation project.

The decision came in the back drop of promises made to the residual AP in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014 to treat the Polavaram project into a national project.

Polavaram was one of the major projects taken up under the Jalayagnam program of YSR government which had interstate issues and also submerged huge tribal lands and tribal habitations in Odisha and Khammam district of Papi konda hill range.

The project reservoir has live storage 75.2 tmcft and gross storage 194 tmcft thereby enabling irrigation of 23,20,000 acre (including stabilization of existing irrigated lands) in Krishna, West Godavari, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The project would constitute an earth-cum-rock fill dam of 2,310 meters with 44 vents .On the left bank it will have 12 water turbines, each having 80 megawatt capacity. The right canal connecting to Krishna River in the upstream of Prakasam Barrage (173 kilometers (107 mi) long).