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Project Type
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Irrigation
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Duration
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1980-88
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Total Cost
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USD 103.6 million
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IFAD Loan
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USD 55 million
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Direct Beneficiaries
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195,000 rural poor people
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The project, cofinanced by IFAD and the World Bank, was part of the then largest irrigation project in India, the Indira Gandhi Nahar Project, consisting of a 445 km main canal and the associated distribution systems. The objective was to develop the area and the villages within it, home to about 39,000 households. The project aimed to irrigate settled land in north west Rajasthan state, where 37 per cent of the land was desert. Despite a series of problems that led to revised targets, the project was particularly successful in impeding erosion along the banks of canals through forestation. The project introduced the first accurate measurements of groundwater level and quality.
Project Components
- .Command Area Development
- Settlement development
- Studies, training and monitoring.
Performance:
- Project had been extended to accomplish revised targets and was completed satisfactorily in respect of the revised physical targets.
- About 57,000 ha of land was surveyed in order to identify the best irrigable areas, however during actual construction only 70% of the proposed land area was irrigated.
- The project introduced the first accurate measuring of groundwater level and quality, with levels rising at a rate of 80 cm per annum.
problems faced by the project
- Unreliable material procurement and supply
- Unstable soil conditions
- Escalating construction costs
- Untimely and inadequate maintenance of completed canals.
- Unsatisfactory erosion protection measures
- Limited community mobilization.
- 110 water supply units were constructed, however 75% were rendered inoperable by sand silting or hand-pump breakdown due to lack of maintenance.
Volumetric water charges were introduced but this system offered no incentive to cultivators to make optimum use of water. |
