Rs 2000 cr more required to complete work
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 20: State Government has remained undecided on resumption of work on 850 Mega Watt Ratle Hydroelectric Project on river Chenab in Kishtwar district despite the fact that its cost has escalated by over Rs 2000 crore so far and will increase further if no alternate arrangement is made without wasting further time.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that though arbitrator has given green signal to the State Government for going ahead with the project, which was abandoned by M/s GVK Power in 2014, yet Government has failed to work out any alternate arrangement till date.
“From certain quarters in the Government there is a suggestion that Central Public Sector Undertakings should be roped in for re-start of work on the project but no final decision has so far been taken”, they said while expressing inability to specify time-frame for completion of this task.
“The dilly-dallying approach towards working out alternate arrangement is notwithstanding the fact that cost of the project has escalated by over Rs 2000 crore so far”, sources said. At the stage of formulation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Ratle Power Project the cost was worked out at Rs 5500 crore on the basis of price index of that time and this was also mentioned in his speech by the then Prime Minister while laying foundation stone of the project in 2013.
“However, during recent exercise carried out at the level of Power Development Corporation, it has come to the fore that because of escalation in the cost of the material since the abandoning of the project by M/s GVK Power Rs 2000 crore more would have to be infused to ensure completion of the project that too if the work is resumed immediately”, they said.
“The cost of the project will increase further if dilly-dallying approach is allowed in working out alternate arrangement for resumption of work”, sources further said, adding “apart from working out alternate arrangement for resumption of work the Government will also have to make arrangement of additional Rs 2000 crore, which is again a daunting task keeping in view resources constraints”.
It is pertinent to mention here that arbitrator, where dispute between State Government and M/s GVK Power is still pending, while giving go-ahead to the State for resumption of work on the project, had observed: “Arbitration is a long drawn process and keeping in view the importance of the project its fate cannot be allowed to remain hanging for a long period”.
“It seems that this aspect has not been understood by the State Government otherwise alternate mechanism could have been worked out for re-start of work by taking up matter with the Union Government, which has flagged tapping of power generation potential in Jammu and Kashmir as priority”, sources said.
When contacted, a senior officer of the Power Development Department confirmed that no decision has yet been taken on resumption of work on the project. “Different options are being explored and it is difficult to specify what would be the strategy for restart of work”, he added.
Had there been no law and order problems and dispute between Power Development Corporation and M/s GVK Power, which led to abandoning of work, the project would have started generating power from current year.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ratle Hydro Electric Project, a run of the river scheme, was the first Hydro Electric Project in the country which was awarded on tariff based international competitive bidding process for development on Built-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis for a period of 35 years.
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