CHANNEL MAINT.

closed

The objectives of the Channel Maintenance Project are to (i) help increase agricultural productivity through more efficient functioning of the irrigation and drainage network, (ii) introduce relevant and cost-effective methods of channel maintenance, and (iii) strengthen the capabilities of project-related institutions. The traditional system of channel maintenance involving large-scale excavation would be changed by introducing balanced work-cycles of weed mowing, chemical treatment and desilting for various channels. The loan, itself, would finance the upgrading of the equipment fleet of contracting agencies, including private sector companies; cycle-based maintenance schedules to be introduced over the entire 48,000 km network of public channels; and technical assistance for the agencies organized under the Ministry of Irrigation for channel maintenance. These include the Irrigation Sector, the Weed Research Institute, and the Public Sector Excavation Companies.