Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
Tribune News Service
Jammu, June 6
People in electricity-starved Jammu and Kashmir may have to wait for at least four years for the completion of the second phase of the 900-MW Baglihar hydroelectric project over the Chenab in Chanderkote.
The first phase having three turbines of 150-MW each started in 1999 and was commissioned in 2008.
Managing Director of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Shalin Kabra said: “The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) gave us the techno-economic clearance in December last year and now negotiations are on with contractors.”
“In the second phase, an additional power house of 450-MW capacity will be constructed close to the existing one while the dam will be common,” he added.
Kabra said, “The CEA has carried out a detailed appraisal covering all aspects of the second phase, including possible objections by Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, but we do not anticipate any problem because we will be constructing only an additional power house.”
The managing director said, “Since the dam is going to be the same for the second phase, there are no changes in its design and there will be no attempt to change the course of the river, we do not think that Pakistan will have any objections to it.”
Kabra said the requisite spadework was being done. However, one of the executing agencies, which claimed that it had been given the contract of constructing the power house and allied works, including tunnels in 2004, awaited consent from the state government,he added.
“Since January, we are waiting for a nod from the state government and once we get it, it may take at least four years for us to come up with the underground power house and allied works,” said an official of the Jai Prakash Industries.
“Pakistan’s objections at the time of the first phase of the project pertained to the height of the dam for which it had approached the World Bank, which, in turn, appointed a neutral adjudicator, Prof Raymond Lafitte. Acting upon his report, we reduced the height of the dam,” he added.
In December 2006, Pakistan had recommended to Lafitte that the height of the dam should be decreased to 143 metre from the present 145 metre. India subsequently accepted the recommendation and implemented it in 2007.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had already given his approval for starting the second phase.
Tribune News Service
Jammu, June 6
People in electricity-starved Jammu and Kashmir may have to wait for at least four years for the completion of the second phase of the 900-MW Baglihar hydroelectric project over the Chenab in Chanderkote.
The first phase having three turbines of 150-MW each started in 1999 and was commissioned in 2008.
Managing Director of the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Shalin Kabra said: “The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) gave us the techno-economic clearance in December last year and now negotiations are on with contractors.”
“In the second phase, an additional power house of 450-MW capacity will be constructed close to the existing one while the dam will be common,” he added.
Kabra said, “The CEA has carried out a detailed appraisal covering all aspects of the second phase, including possible objections by Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, but we do not anticipate any problem because we will be constructing only an additional power house.”
The managing director said, “Since the dam is going to be the same for the second phase, there are no changes in its design and there will be no attempt to change the course of the river, we do not think that Pakistan will have any objections to it.”
Kabra said the requisite spadework was being done. However, one of the executing agencies, which claimed that it had been given the contract of constructing the power house and allied works, including tunnels in 2004, awaited consent from the state government,he added.
“Since January, we are waiting for a nod from the state government and once we get it, it may take at least four years for us to come up with the underground power house and allied works,” said an official of the Jai Prakash Industries.
“Pakistan’s objections at the time of the first phase of the project pertained to the height of the dam for which it had approached the World Bank, which, in turn, appointed a neutral adjudicator, Prof Raymond Lafitte. Acting upon his report, we reduced the height of the dam,” he added.
In December 2006, Pakistan had recommended to Lafitte that the height of the dam should be decreased to 143 metre from the present 145 metre. India subsequently accepted the recommendation and implemented it in 2007.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had already given his approval for starting the second phase.
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