Revision of DPR, floating of fresh tenders ordered again
No time-line in sight for
execution of modest project
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 8: Conceived over a decade back by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, the modest 48 Mega Watt (MW) Lower Kalnai Hydroelectric Project in Doda district continues to remain trapped in a cycle of tendering and re-tendering with Board of the Directors of Power Development Corporation ordering revision of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and floating of fresh tenders thereby pushing the project back to the square one once again.
The project was awarded on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis in September 2013 to M/s Coastal Projects Pro Limited and was scheduled to be completed in September 2017. However, due to poor progress of work and listing of coastal projects in the insolvency list of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), a committee recommended termination of the contract and encashment of Performance Bank Guarantee.
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The State Administrative Council, in its meeting held on June 20, 2019 under the chairmanship of the then Governor Satya Pal Malik, accorded sanction to the termination of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) and Project Management Consultancy (PMC) contracts for the Lower Kalnai Hydroelectric Project, updation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and re-tendering of the remaining works of the project under EPC mode.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that the EPC tendering process had recently been completed and the lowest bidder (L1) was identified with a project cost of Rs 671 crore. However, the L1 bidder subsequently backed out of the project and the second lowest bidder (L2) offered to execute the project at the L1 rates.
The matter was placed before the Board of Directors of Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation in its meeting held last month. However, instead of proceeding with the available option, the Board directed annulment of the entire tendering process and ordered revision of the DPR and floating of fresh tenders, thereby prolonging the already extraordinary delay in implementation of the project, they informed.
Sources further said, “the development has once again exposed the lack of urgency in tapping even modest hydro power potential, as the 48 MW project continues to languish in procedural formalities despite repeated policy decisions aimed at restarting the works”, adding “the fate of this project clearly indicates how the power infrastructure projects are being pursued by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir”.
Due to the prolonged delay in restarting the works, the expenditure incurred on the project prior to termination of the earlier contract has largely remained unproductive. “The situation has reached a stage where even a relatively small hydroelectric project of just 48 MW capacity has remained entangled in administrative processes for well over a decade”, sources remarked.
In the year 2019, the Power Development Corporation had mentioned in the list of under construction hydro projects (above 25 Mega Watt) that Lower Kalnai Project would be completed by 2022-23 subject to re-start of work.
“Keeping in view the prevailing situation, nobody is in a position to specify any time-frame for the re-start and completion of the project which was planned more than a decade back”, sources said.
As per the decision of the Board of Directors, the Power Development Corporation will first engage consultancy firm for revision of the Detailed Project Report and after revision and approval to the revised DPR the fresh tenders will be floated.
“In such a situation, there are doubts whether this modest capacity project will ever become reality. Had the project not been caught in the tendering and re-tendering cycle, it would have been completed and started generating electricity much earlier”, sources said.
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