The environmental appraisal committee of the ministry of environment and forests has approved, in principle, the construction of Renuka dam in Himachal Pradesh. The multi-crore hydropower project will provide drinking water to Delhi. The Centre and the state have entered into an agreement for this project.
Tarun Kapoor, Managing Director, Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd, told Projectmonitor, "The revised project cost of Rs 2,700 crore has been submitted to the government and is awaiting the sanction. The Centre has approved Rs 2,200 crore as of now for the proposed dam to be built on a tributary of the Yamuna in Sirmaur district of the state. The Centre will provide 90 per cent of the project cost and the rest 10 per cent by the beneficiary state which draws water through the dam."
Renuka dam, on Giri river, will offer a storage capacity of 542 million cubic metres of water and an installed power capacity of 40 mw, and will supply Delhi with an additional 275 mgd of water, Kapoor explained.
"We will float tenders by the end of February and are likely to award (the contract) by mid-July. Land acquisition process is in progress and is expected to complete by the end of March. Work on the dam is expected to begin soon and will be implemented for a period of five years," Kapoor stated. Delhi Jal Board has provided Rs 300 crore to the state government for acquisition of land.
Environmental clearance is expected by end of the month or early February and state forest clearance in three months. A part of the Renuka wildlife sanctuary is expected to be submerged. The forest department has asked Himalayan Forestry Research Institute to prepare the plan for afforestation and wildlife sanctuary.
As per the agreement between the HP government and the Centre, the state will install electrical and mechanical equipment, including turbine generators, and the Centre would provide financial assistance. Water from the 148-metre high and 430-metre wide dam will be released into Yamuna river, through the Giri, and then be released at the Hathni Kund barrage and from there passed into the Munak Channel and finally brought to the capital. About 1,630 hectares of land, of which 60 per cent is private, has been proposed to be acquired for the project.
The Renuka dam project, also called Lord Parshuram Sagar project, has been facing problems with affected families rejecting the compensation being offered in lieu of their land that will be submerged by the reservoir.
On another note, Kapoor said that HPPCL was implementing many hydropower projects like Sawana Kudu of 100 mw in Shimla district, expected to be completed by 2012; and 243-mw Kshage, 402-mw Shong Tong and 70-mw Tidong in Kinnaur districts; and 100-mw Sainj in Kulu district, which are in various stages of construction.
Source : www.projectsmonitor.com
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