*Work on 93 MW Ganderbal HEP shortly
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 9: Minister of State for Power, Syed Farooq Andrabi today informed the Lower House that work on 93 MW Ganderbal Hydroelectric Project will be started after seeking approval of the Cabinet for awarding the contract.
“The matter is presently under the process for placing before the Cabinet. Execution of the work will start only after a decision on award of contract is taken by the State Cabinet”, the Minister said.
Replying to a Question by Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar, the Minister informed the House that bidding process for the project was initiated in July 2011 and the Board of Directors of J&K SPDC considered the award of the project in October 2014. It was decided that further negotiations with the bidder should be held by the committee of representatives of Planning and Development, Finance and Power Development Departments.
Giving further details, Andrabi said the matter again came up for consideration before the Board of Directors of JK SPDC in March 2016 and it was decided that in place of representatives of the P&D, Finance and Power Development Departments, the Committee for negotiations will now comprise administrative secretaries of these departments instead of their representatives and the Managing Director, JKSPDC. The Committee will conclude the negotiations and place the outcome before the BoDs, he informed, adding that the matter was again placed before the BoDs in its 72nd meeting held on 21-10-2016 which decided to place it before the Cabinet for consideration.
Regarding the estimated cost of the projects under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), the Minister said that Rs 619.67 crore have been sanctioned for creation and strengthening the power related infrastructure and electrification of un-electrified households in the rural areas of 21 districts across the State.
While giving details on the present status of projects approved under PP mode, the Minister said that the State formulated a policy for execution of projects under Independent Power Producer (IPP) mode in 2003 which was subsequently revised in 2011.
“Under Phase-I, 10 projects were tendered out under J&K State Hydroelectric Policy-2003. Under Phase-II, 6 projects were tendered out and similarly under Phase-III, 24 projects were tendered out under the J&K State Hydroelectric Policy 2011”, said the Minister.
He further informed that the remaining and newly identified projects will be tendered in Phase-IV. He however said that 14 small hydro projects which were proposed to be executed under IPP mode have now been transferred to Prime Minister’s Development Programme (PMDP) and will be implemented in Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) mode.
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