SJVNL eying hydel projects in Nepal

Shimla, Jan 24 (UNI) Public Sector firm Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVNL) is eying hydropower generation in other Himalayan countries and will bid for hydel projects in Nepal and Bhutan, company's Chief Managing Director H K Sharma said today.

''The SJNVL will bid for 300 MW Upper Karnali and 400 MW Arun II hydropower projects in Nepal,'' he said at a press conference here.

Mr Sharma said the company had also urged the Union Power Ministry to permit it to bid or negotiate for hydel projects in Bhutan.

A high powered Bhutanese delegation that recently visited Nathpa Jhakri hydel power project here were highly impressed by its functioning and evinced keen interest in its know-how, he said.

The Nigam was also bidding for projects in Aurnachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, he added.

''By proposing to convert the 300 MW Devsari project on Pindar River in Uttaranchal from a storage dam project to a run-of-the river one, we hope to bag Devsari I and Devsari II, both with 300 MW capacity each,'' Mr Sharma said.

The SJVNL CMD said the central electricity authority had cleared the 412 MW Rampur project on Sutlej river basin and the major contract works would be allocated soon.

The project cost was estimated at Rs 2,047 crore. It would be completed within 60 months, he said.

The Rampur project had been designed to operate in tandem with Nathpa Jhakri project and would utilise the tail race waters of the upstream project, which would reduce costs.

The SJVNL was still in the forefront for the 700 MW Luhri project, downstream of Rampur project and a detailed project report was under preparation, he said.

Mr Sharma said work was on for preparing the detailed project report for 1,020 MW Khab Dam project in Kinnaur district, which was stalled because of opposition from the local people much in the same way work had been held up at the 1,000 MW Karcham-Wangtoo Project.

Changed hydrology had effected generation targets for the current financial year at Nathpa Jhakri Power Plant, which was still expected to generate about 6,000 million units (MU) instead of the targeted 6,400 MU, he said.

In the peak season, high silt levels had forced shutting down of the plant for 32 days, which had affected the generation target.

Expressing confidence over the functioning of the plant, he said SJVNL was likely to earn a profit of over Rs 600 crore during the year as against 543.61 crore earned last year.

UNI