No Northeast Projects Scrapped: DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh

States asked to reprioritize earlier schemes

A CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: DoNER Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday said that the ongoing projects in the northeast have not been scrapped by the Ministry under the scheme of Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR).

“However, after revision of NLCPR guidelines in 2016, States were requested to reprioritize the retained projects of earlier years so that the value of total projects for each State does not exceed three times of the normative allocation for that State,” said the Minister in the Rajya Sabha.

Under the revised guidelines of NLCPR, the DPRs (Detailed Project Reports) are approved by State Level Empowered Committee headed by Chief Secretary of the States concerned.

Meanwhile, the 2000 MW Lower Subansiri Hydro Power Project will be commissioned four years after work on it commences.

“Since December 2011, work stopped due to agitation by various activists, fearing dam safety and downstream impacts of dam. The project will be commissioned four years after restart of works,” said RK Singh, Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy.

Ironically 16 projects, aggregating to 5950 MW, are stalled or held up due to financial constraints and other reasons.

Out of the 16 projects, 10 are stalled due to financial stress.

The Government is working on a hydro policy that would provide for longer loan repayment period, lower interest rate and other incentives which would help in bringing down the tariff of these projects.

The power ministry has informed about formulating a hydro policy to Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy.

“As on 30th November, 2018, there were 37 Hydro Electric Projects (above 25 MW) under construction in the country; aggregating to 12178.50 MW. Of these, 37 are under construction Hydro Electric Projects while 16 projects are stalled,” said Singh.

As per calculation made by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the annual loss of energy generation from these stalled projects is about 18,761 Million Units (MUs).

“The Government of India is pursuing proactively for early resolution of issues with stakeholders,” a senior official in the Ministry of Power said.

Work on the 144 MW Gongri Dirang Energy Pvt. Ltd. project In Arunachal Pradesh has been halted. As many as five projects of various MWs have been stalled in Sikkim due to fund crunch.

Also read: DoNER Ministry urged to clear pending projects: Mein