Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology - Chapter 1109

Chapter 1109: 2.26 million kilometre super basin (XXL)

4th of February 1693

Simhasan Bhavana

Vijay had packed up for a long journey, but before he set off, he wanted to understand how the construction of the Metro line was going. He called Ganesh and asked him.

Ganesh, remembering the data from the back of his mind, replied, “So far, around 50 pillars have been erected, your majesty, and 700 metres of platform have already been installed.”

“Hmm!” Vijay contemplated the data as he leaned back. The total length of the metro line is over 114 km, built with 3800 pillars and several underground tunnels in areas of high elevation. At the rate it is going now, the entire project will be completed in 4.4 years.

‘Not bad,’ he thought. In fact, it was much quicker than what Vijay was used to in his past life, where it took years to even complete a single bridge, but Vijay was not satisfied. After all, the reason why it took so long in his last life was because of bureaucracy and useless idiots in the government who didn’t know the first thing about civil engineering, but the reason in this life has to be technical difficulties, since the entire project is under the direct supervision of his son and the panchayat.

Still, he wanted to know the exact details, so he directly enquired. He looked at Ganesh with a questioning gaze, “Why does the construction take so long? The time that it took to build the canal between Son, Bethwa, and Luni was only around 4 years, and that was more than 200 km in length.”

Ganesh nodded. “His highness asked the same question, your majesty, but the answer he got was that the cranes take too long to operate and move. Even if the pillars could be laid down quickly enough, the installation of the box girder, umm,” remembering the explanation about this term, he spoke out, “they are the platforms on top of the pillar, your majesty. They are hollow on the inside and made entirely using concrete. The chief engineer designed it in such a way that it already has the drainage channels built in.”

“Each one of these box girders weighs approximately 35 tonnes, so in order to lift it and stabilise it on top of the pillar, over 4 port cranes are required, and after installation of every single piece, you have to take apart the crane manually and rebuild it entirely. The maximum of the time is wasted on this.”

Vijay nodded in understanding. “Well, it can’t be helped,” he shrugged, then made up his mind. “Double the investment and have the company begin construction from both ends; that should cut the timeline by two years.”

Ganesh showed a look of hesitation as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed his words and simply nodded in acceptance.

Vijay already knew that Gaur Industries was developing a steam engine that fell between a locomotive and a tractor, which they called a professional-grade model, meant for heavier machinery. If he was right, it could power the crane hydraulics, giving it far greater strength and making construction much easier. The engine was currently being tested by the power laboratory as they worked on mass-production techniques for the assembly line. It should be ready for large-scale manufacturing in two or three months, so he estimated that by the time the metro infrastructure was complete, the metro rail itself could also be built.

Coming back to his senses, he ordered Ganesh, ” Also, call some local architects and have them design the pillars well. I do not want the Empire’s capital to look like a concrete jungle; it should have a sense of vitality.”

“As you wish, your majesty.”

Vijay finally set off for Suvarna Dwipa.

He had just received an invitation from all of the kings of Suvarna Dwipa to attend the inauguration of the largest basin system in the eastern hemisphere, and probably the rest of the world.

Over the last two decades, the infrastructure projects in both the Bharatiya Empire and Suvarna Dwipa had not stopped; instead, with the continuous influx of investment from the empire, the speed of the construction only increased. In the Bharatiya Empire, almost 80% of all the projects that had been planned have already been completed.

The canals linking the Yamuna, Chambal, and Betwa Rivers to Pratihara Puri (Rajasthan) had already been completed by 90%. A canal bringing water from the Ganga to Maurya Nagari (Bihar + East UP) has already been completed, and several reservoirs have already been built, turning it into an area rich in agriculture.

The massive tree planting operation in the Western Ghats has been completed by 100%, trees small to large could already be seen sprouting up from the ground, and laws have been erected to forbid anyone from cutting the trees so that rainfall in the southern states like Vijayanagara (Karnataka), Satavahana (Maharashtra), and Cheranadu (Kerala) would increase, and the moisture from the Arabian Sea would be trapped inland in order to compensate for weaker monsoons.

Also, the ambitious project of stopping the desertification of the Thar Desert by introducing massive tree plantations, stepwell irrigation, embankments, and reservoirs is also mostly completed, with the results already showing.

The project to construct checkdams along Cauvery, Krishna, and Godavari and their tributaries has already been completed so that excess waters could be diverted to reservoirs and water could be utilised more efficiently, while the task of promoting rainwater harvesting in Madurai, Mysore, and Kakathiya regions has already been completed, with now each and every household having rainwater collection septic tanks, and every village having a low-lying area where the entire water of the village flows to the reservoir which could be used for agricultural purposes in the rainless months.

Other projects, like the Pala monsoon stabilisation project, where mangrove forests along Pala Nagari and Gangapuri (Odisha) have been expanded, ponds and lakes have been constructed, and canal-based irrigation has also been encouraged.

Overall, Vijay had made all the preparations for the weather that will inevitably be affected with Suvarna Dwipa becoming greener and more habitable.

The journey aboard his personal custom-built Mahadha class steamboat model named Saraswati Imperial was extremely comfortable and quick, especially since it did not have to depend on the wind, and the refuelling of coal and water did not take long. In only a week, he was on the shores of Suvarna Dwipa.

Vijay was welcomed by all five kings of Suvarna Dwipa, and aboard the train, he was able to cut short a lot of the distance in order to travel to the south-central region. Of course, he still had to go several weeks through the carriage, since the trains only took him from one country to another, from one capital to another, and did not cover each and every part of the island. So using the train, he could only go from the port in Prabhavapura(SA) to further inland, where the path diverged towards Suryanagari (Queensland), but thankfully, it was not as unrelenting as if it were a month of travelling in a carriage without trains.

The investment in the infrastructure projects of Suvarna Dwipa, very much similar to the Bharatiya Empire, was continuous, and it kept on increasing. Vijay had planned five different infrastructure projects for Suvarna Dwipa, one being the Murray-Darling Super River System project, the second one being the Lake Eyre Inland Sea project, the third Great Northern Water Network project, the fourth Western Desert Revival project, and the last Coast to Desert River Link project.

Vijay inquired about the status of the ongoing projects and learned that the most challenging ones, the Coast-to-Desert River Link, aimed at redirecting coastal rivers inland to supply deserts with fresh water, and the Western Desert Revival, designed to merge rivers, invest in infrastructure, and push water into the Great Sandy Desert, were still under construction. Their completion was only around 50%, and it might take another decade to finish them.

The first two major projects, the Murray-Darling River System and the Lake Eyre Inland Sea, had already been completed, while the Great Northern Water Network was partially done at roughly 70%.

The project that had just been completed, and the reason for his invitation, was the inauguration of the connection between the Murray-Darling River Basin and the Lake Eyre Basin.

“I didn’t expect these two projects to be completed so quickly. Aren’t these projects just as difficult as the other three? What changed?”

It was Narasimha Naik who answered.

“Originally, we thought that it would take another five to six years to complete both the projects, your majesty, but we encountered a surprise.”

“We discovered that both the Murray-Darling River Basin and the Lake Eyre Basin had several natural canals from various rivers that had previously dried up. The Lachlan River and the Murrumbidgee River naturally flowed into the Murray River due to its lower elevation. Originally, the Murray River used to go into the sea through the Murray Mouth, but once we blocked it, we observed that the dried basin began filling up, and the water started flowing upstream into the Darling River, which by itself was formed by the accumulation of several tributaries from Suryanagari (Queensland).”

“So when Murray and Darling rivers were connected, it formed a large lake in its basin, and from this basin we observed that two tributaries were actually formed moving towards the Lake Eyre Basin.”

“We have used these two tributaries as the gateway to the Eyre Basin, your majesty. From the first gateway, we have built a canal 100 km long and over 80 metres deep. The last five years we spent on this alone, and the other gateway is 120 kilometres long with a depth of around 80 to 90 metres.”

“Water from both the gateways leads naturally to the Eyre Basin through a series of water bodies, as it is the lowest point within the continent.”

“And since the Eyre Basin is already the lowest point, the Bulloo River, which receives water from the gateways, transfers it to several interconnected lakes. From these lakes, we redirected the water into another basin called Cooper Creek. This is a smaller basin, but it connects directly to the Eyre Basin. To accommodate the flow, we widened the naturally formed canal within Cooper Creek and merged the Georgian River and Diamantina River into it, increasing the flow and ultimately allowing the water to pass through freely, completing the inland sea project we had set out to achieve.”

“With this project, we have successfully connected two large basins on the island together, making up a super basin of over 2.26 million square kilometres, 30% of the island.”

“And due to this connection, the Eyre Basin, which is usually dry, can now have permanent fresh water, and it no longer has to rely on rare monsoon floods. The water will be permanently supplied from the Murray-Darling River system and other tributary rivers from the surroundings. Before, the surface area of the water could be anywhere from 0 to 9,500 square kilometres, but now we can have a permanent water area of 15,000 square kilometres to 30,000 square kilometres, with a depth of at least eight metres to 20 metres. A whole ecology can thrive in this, your majesty.”

Vijay was surprised at the strings of coincidences where everything actually fit together like a puzzle. He thought the distance between the two basins, which is around 200 km, would be a big problem because even though the whole distance was flat, it had a gradual elevation that peaks at around 200 metres above sea level at one point. He thought that a canal had to be constructed with 200 metres of depth, but who would have thought there were already a few tributaries cutting through this desert area, making it easier for the two basins to be connected.

“So this is it, ha?”

Vijay asked as he looked at the dam.

“Yes, your majesty, this is the first gateway.”

“It has rained a few days ago, and the Murray and Darling Rivers are quite full, so a lot of water is accumulated on the other side of the dam.”

“We should immediately be able to see the water merge into the Eyre Basin.”

Vijay nodded in understanding and took the honour of releasing the lever to open the seal.

Cheers immediately erupted as a torrent of water gushed from the dam, crashing into the long-dry riverbed and sending clouds of mist into the air. The parched land drank greedily, and the sound of rushing water echoed across the plains like distant thunder.

Vijay’s gaze drifted to the other side of the dam, stretching toward the horizon. The sight was breathtaking and intimidating, like a Grand Canyon, with walls 100 metres high, and the canal snaking its way between the towering walls.

He then travelled to the second gateway and permanently opened the wall, witnessing the spectacle once again. In truth, the construction of the dam had not been strictly necessary: the Eyre Basin, over a million square kilometres in width, could easily absorb the influx from the Murray and Darling River systems, but just to be sure, the dams were still built.

As the level of the water began to rise on the Bulloo River, the river which takes in water from both the gateways, the water began to flow into its lakes. Vijay got on a small fishing boat and sailed with the current through the lake and into the widened natural canal of the Cooper Creek, finally entering Lake Eyre.

All five monarchs, who travelled on different fishing vessels along with him, celebrated when they completed the journey of two million square kilometres along with the water.

Everyone looked towards Aditya Bhosle and Narasimha Nayak, the monarchs of Prabhavapura (SA)and Vishala Nagari (NSW), with envy because this project would be most advantageous to their territories.

The Kingdom of Vishala Nagari would be retaining more moisture within its kingdom by not allowing the water from the Murray River to enter the sea and redirecting it towards the northwest, allowing the dry regions in the northwest to grow vegetation. The Kingdom of Prabhavapura would be able to further develop its northernmost region and its surroundings, which is the central region of Suvarna Dwipa, and grow more vegetation, retaining more moisture and making the whole kingdom more habitable.

The other monarchs couldn’t help but feel a surge of agitation, thinking about the mega infrastructure projects still underway in their own kingdoms. Thankfully, by the grace of God, a lot of funds had been saved thanks to the tributaries and the natural geography, allowing them to now invest further into the three remaining infrastructure projects.

When Vijay initiated the five infrastructure projects for Suvarna Dwipa, he structured them so that all participants would invest equally in all five projects. Even if some projects finished earlier than others, each ruler was still bound to contribute to the remaining ones. He did this because the fertile lands of Suvarna Dwipa offered equal benefit to everyone, and it was always wise to establish treaties for water sharing before any potential disputes could arise in the future.

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