Arunachal to ink deals with SJVN, NEEPCO for 5 hydropower plants

Itanagar The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to hand over five terminated hydropower projects with a generation capacity of 2823 MW to two Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs), as the the Cabinet approved the memorandum of agreement (MoA) to be signed with the CPSUs.

The MoA would be signed soon with the two CPSUs.

Officials said that the State Cabinet at its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu approved the MoA to be signed with the CPSUs for the development of hydropower in the state.

"This would pave the way to unlocking potential five hydropower projects with an installed capacity of 2820 MW. This will spur huge investment in the state and generate employment," a State government official said.

According to the official, these five projects would require an investment of Rs 40,000 crore in the next five to seven years.

Of the five projects, two hydropower projects - Naying (1,000 MW) and Hirong (500 MW) - would be handed over to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO); and Emini (500 MW), Amulin (420 MW) and Minundon (400 MW) to the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited for development.

These projects would provide revenue of around Rs 500 crore per year and around Rs 100 crore for local area development (LAD), the official said.

He said that an action plan has been prepared to commence work on 13 priority projects with 12,343 MW generation capacity. This would lead to an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh crore and would provide revenue of Rs 2,000 crore to the State and around Rs 350 crore per year for LAD.

It said that Arunachal Pradesh, through its hydropower, would contribute majorly towards India's commitment of increasing non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatt.

The Cabinet also approved that revenue generated by the state government from the power sector be invested in the government bonds which would be used for the development of Arunachal Pradesh.