Arunachal Govt to transfer hydro projects from private developers to CPSUs

Itanagar, April 1: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said that the State Government has ‘almost’ finalized the process of transferring 14 major hydropower projects in the state from private developers to various Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) and the signing of agreements with the latter is due next month.

“After a lengthy process of transferring these projects from private developers to the CPSUs, a final stage has almost been reached, as the State Cabinet granted approval to the Memorandums of Agreement (MoA) with the CPSUs during the recent Cabinet meeting held in Itanagar this week. The signing of the MoAs is scheduled to take place next month,” revealed Mein during his meeting with Union Power Minister RK Singh in New Delhi on Friday.

Mein, along with the Advisor to Govt of Arunachal Pradesh Hari Krishna Paliwal, called on the Union Power Minister to discuss about the hydropower projects that are to be now undertaken by CPSUs including NHPC, NEEPCO, SJVN (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd) and THDC (Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited).

“They discussed about the fourteen major hydropower projects in the state, which did not register visible progress till date. Of these projects, five of them had their allotment to private developers cancelled due to lack of progress; whereas eight projects registered very limited progress that could not be substantiated with much significance. They also talked about the Demwe Lower Hydropower Project which is pending in NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal),” a communique from the Deputy Chief Minister’s Office said.

The Deputy Chief Minister put forth the Arunachal Pradesh government's expectations and commitment pertaining to these projects, highlighting the need to expedite their respective development, it said.

The Union Power Minister highly appreciated the progress made by the State government so far in this direction and expressed his desire to personally visit Arunachal Pradesh to witness the signing of MoAs.

He further emphasized that the commencement of these projects will lead to overall development of the state in the form of infrastructure, social and economic upliftment, and will open up many opportunities for the local people.

During the meeting, Singh also added that the development of hydropower in the state will result in a substantial rise in the income generation of the people, eventually leading to Arunachal Pradesh recording one of the highest per capita incomes in the country.

The Union Power Minister also congratulated the Dy CM and his team for the significant progress made so far, while assuring Central Government’s full support in the successful implementation of the projects to be undertaken by the CPSUs, the communiqué added.

It may be mentioned that the Arunachal government has terminated 44 agreements (MoAs) with various private power developers for their ‘failure’ to execute the projects allotted to them and instead offered those to the CPSUs for development based on their “performance and reliability”, Mein had informed the Assembly on March 16, 2022.

He said that the State Government had, in accordance to the Centre’s Hydro Power Policy, signed 153 MoAs with various CPSUs and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for development of hydropower projects with the total installed capacity of 46,943 MW.