93-MW New Ganderbal Hydro Electric Project hits environmental roadblock

EAC refuses extension as project remains grounded after 13 yrs

*JKPDC told to submit fresh clearance proposal

Mohinder Verma

JAMMU, Sept 1: The proposed 93-MW New Ganderbal Hydro Electric Project has run into a major environmental regulatory hurdle as the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation Limited to submit a fresh and updated proposal instead of merely seeking an extension of the Environmental Clearance which was earlier granted on September 27, 2013.

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The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects, while examining the proposal for extension of the Environment Clearance, observed that no physical construction work has commenced at the project site to date, while implementation of the approved Environmental Management Plan (EMP) has also not begun.

"Under the applicable environmental provisions, the validity of Environment Clearance for River Valley and Hydroelectric Projects is 13 years with the possibility of extension by another two years. The existing clearance validity period is set to expire on September 26, 2026 and even if the project receives a further extension up to September 26, 2028, the project would still not be completed by that period", the EAC observed in its order, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.

The Expert Appraisal Committee further observed that, once commenced, implementation of the Environment Management Plan would require approximately 4 years (48 months) for completion. Similarly, as per project implementation schedule mentioned in the Detailed Project Report the construction and completion of the main project works would also require approximately 48 months.

The proposed project is a run-of-the-river scheme with peaking storage capacity on Sindh Nallah, a tributary of the River Jhelum. It is designed to have an installed capacity of 93 MW, comprising three vertical Francis turbine-driven generating units of 31 MW each.

The project was originally conceived partly in view of the ageing 15-MW Ganderbal Hydroelectric Project, commissioned between 1955 and 1962. The existing project comprises two 3-MW and two 4.5-MW units, with renovation and modernisation reportedly restricted to one 4.5-MW unit.

The proposed project includes a 58-metre-long and 11.5-metre-high barrage, an underground desilting basin, an 11.663-km-long headrace tunnel, a 72.6-metre-high surge shaft and a surface powerhouse. Power evacuation is proposed through a 4-km, 132-kV double-circuit transmission system connecting to the Alesteng-Badampora transmission line through LILO arrangement.

The project involves land acquisition affecting 245 families belonging to four villages. The Project Proponent informed the EAC that all affected families have already been partially compensated for the land acquired from them.

The Power Development Corporation further informed the EAC that the project site has been maintained in conformity with applicable environmental safeguards and that it remains committed to implementing the approved EMP, including catchment area treatment, compensatory afforestation, biodiversity conservation, wildlife management, fisheries development, greenbelt creation and social upliftment measures.

However, the EAC specifically noted that EMP implementation itself has not yet commenced, as construction has not started.

Another major concern flagged by the EAC was that significant financial changes and price escalations have occurred since the project was originally formulated. The Project Proponent informed the committee that the proposal for awarding the main project works to the L1 bidder, M/s HCC-CPPPL (JV), emerging from the third round of tendering, had been submitted to the J&K Government for approval.

Despite this, the EAC did not recommend simply extending the 2013 Environment Clearance. Instead, after detailed deliberation on the information and documents submitted by JKPDC, it recommended that the Corporation submit a fresh and updated proposal for grant of prior Environmental Clearance.

"The EAC's recommendation effectively puts the project through a fresh environmental appraisal process at a time when its existing EC is nearing expiry. For JKPDC, the immediate challenge is therefore not merely securing an extension but reworking and updating the environmental clearance proposal for a project that has remained on the drawing board for more than a decade", official sources said.

"If work eventually begins, both construction of the main project and implementation of the environmental safeguards are expected to take about 48 months, making timely regulatory approval critical for the project's future", they added.