After being kept on the backburner apparently for some time, the riverfront development project along the Rispana and Bindal rivers was reviewed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday.

Addressing the officials concerned during the meeting, the Chief Minister stressed that special attention should be given to the quality of the retaining walls being constructed on the banks of the river in the project area.

He directed officials to get the design and quality of the retaining walls checked by those in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.

The Chief Minister also laid special emphasis on the cleanliness of the Rispana and Bindal rivers, sewerage treatment scheme and the plantation of trees on the banks of the two rivers.

Officials in the meeting informed the Chief Minister and others that engineering works estimated to cost about Rs 800 crore are to be executed as part of the riverfront development project along the Rispana and Bindal rivers.

In the first stage of the project, the authorities are undertaking pilot project along about five km area on both sides of the Bindal bridge on Haridwar bypass road and on about five km stretch of the Rispana on both sides of the bridge at Dhauran.

Against the Rs 140 crore approved for work in the first stage, the State Government will provide Rs 90 crore while the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) will generate Rs 50 crore through the project itself.

The officials concerned further informed that till now about three kms of retaining wall had been constructed along the identified area on the banks of both the rivers.

The State Housing and Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik, Dehradun Mayor and MlA Vinod Chamoli, principal secretary Anand Wardhan, secretary to the Chief Minister Amit Negi, MDDA vice-chairman Vinay Shanker Pandey and other departmental officials concerned were also among those present in the meeting.