We are pursing return of Dulhasti, Uri-I with Center: MoS Power
Srinagar, Apr 30 : The state government Thursday asserted it will not allow NHPC to establish new power projects in Jammu and Kashmir until it returns the older ones to the state.
Talking to TKS, Minister of State for Power Development Mohammad Ashraf Mir said that the government is seriously pursuing the issue of the return of the power projects from NHPC so that the state could become self sufficient in generating the power of its own. He said unless the NHPC hands over the older power projects to the state, there is no proposal of giving any new project to the corporation.
“Our stand is clear, we will get our projects back from NHPC and we are seriously pursuing the matter,” Mir asserted.
The state government had earlier maintained that the Cabinet Sub Committee (CSC) was constituted to look into various issues associated with transfer of power projects to State, which recommended seeking return of Salal, Uri-I and Dulhasti to the State apart from those transferred to NHPC vide MoU of July 2007.
J&K State Power Development Corporation (PDC) was authorized to work out the present cost of these projects on the basis of internationally accepted norms that would form the basis of further negotiations with Government of India/NHPC.
JKSDPC has been allocated coal block (Kundnali Lubri in Odisha) jointly with NTPC with an allocated geological reserve of 130 and 266 million tonnes respectively.
Union Ministry of Coal has put a condition that allotment letter shall be issued to the Joint venture Company to be formed by the joint allottees and not to individual parties.
The reports informed that pursuant to the decisions of Board of Directors of JKSPDC engaged M/s SBICAPS as consultants to carry out the viability and sensitivity analysis of various options and accordingly advice on the way forward essentially with regard to location of end use plant.
SBICAPS has reportedly furnished a report according to which with a coal availability of 3.40 million tonnes per annum, the installed capacity works out to be 660MW (Supercritical unit), however, net financial impact by locating the project in J&K vis-à-vis Odisha is estimated at Rs. 700 crore per annum which translates to over 18000 crore over the lifetime of the project.
“The draft joint venture agreement has been cleared by the Law Department of J&K Government. However, formal signing of the agreement is yet to take place,” added Mir.