Uttarakhand invites private players to take over old hydel projects
Shishir Prashant, Dehradun, 22 July 2008
In a major policy decision, the Uttarakhand government today decided to invite private players to renovate the state’s ageing hydel projects.
In the first step, three to five projects will be handed over to the private sector. There are 12 projects in the state that are more than 35 years old and four are lying closed. The total capacity of these projects is 500 Mw.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister BC Khanduri. The move comes close on the heels of the government’s decision last month to suspend the construction of two major hydel projects — 480-Mw Pala Maneri and 400-Mw Bharion Ghati — in the wake of the fast by G D Agrawal, an environmentalist spearheading the “save Bhagirathi” campaign.
Chief Secretary S K Das here said all the 23 hydel projects would be handed over to private companies on private-public partnership (PPP) mode on a lease of 30 years. The government would shortly invite Expression of Interests (EoIs) in this regard.
All these projects were being run by the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (UJVNL). Sources from UJVNL said the top officials of the company were not privy to the decision taken by the state government.
UJVNL Chairman Yogendra Prasad admitted he had no idea about the new decision taken by the government. “I can only tell you after studying the decision,” Prasad said.
This indicates that UJVNL will be asked to focus on new projects instead of the old ones.
The government took the decision because it was not able to generate enough financial resources for the renovation and modernisation of these projects.
News Source: http://www.business-standard.com
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