Serlui B power project 'nears' completion

Aizawl, May 28 (UNI) Nearly 70 per cent of the ongoing construction of the Serlui B hydel project work had been completed, official sources said here today.

''Even though we will not be able to meet the target date of completion, which is December 2007, we hope to commission it before the end of this financial year,'' officials said.

The Serlui B project (B denotes Bilkhawthlir, the nearest town from Serlui river) was initiated during the Lal Thanhawla-led Congress Ministry in 1993 at an estimated cost of Rs 99.69 crores for a 9 MW capacity.

However, the MNF ministry later renewed it for a bigger project with a 12 MW capacity in 1999 and an agreement was duly signed with the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and the MECON who started the construction on October 24, 2004, according to official sources.

The officials informed mediapersons that all required equipment had reached the site, but the work could not be carried out expeditiously owing to the arrival of the monsoons.

The dam, which is called an 'earthen dam' since earth is used for the dam unlike all other hydel projects in Mizoram, would be 168 feet high from the river bed, 961 feet long, 26 feet narrow at the top and 1293 feet wide at the bottom, officials said.

According to officials, so far, Rs 10,340.65 lakhs out of the revised estimated cost of Rs 13520 lakhs had been spent. The expenditures included rehabilitation for the Builum villagers, who were shifted to Bawktlang near Kolasib, and compensation to the farmers of the affected cultivable lands.

Since the project was the state government's undertaking, all the power produced would be consumed by Mizoram.

UNI