NHPC to commission 2 GW Lower Subansiri hydro project by 2022
NHPC in a tweet, assured the commissioning of the Lower Subansiri hydropower project as per schedule, by March 2022
The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) plans to commission the 2GW Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project located at the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border by 2022.
The dam work was halted after massive protests from several organisations in 2011. Project work resumed last year on October 15 following NGT recommendations. Recently, the Power Secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai visited all the project sites and made a review of the developments.
Sahai was accompanied by Naresh Kumar, chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh, AK Singh, CMD of NHPC, Tanmay Kumar, Union power ministry’s joint secretary (hydro), PS Lokhande, commissioner (power), Arunachal Pradesh, and Ratish Kumar, director (projects) at NHPC.
During the project review meeting, the NHPC CMD updated the power secretary Sahai on various construction activities and river protection works downstream.
The NHPC stated, in a tweet, that the power secretary asked employees to work with full eagerness, to complete the dam as per schedule, “it was assured that the project would be commissioned by March 2022.”
Reason for Delay:
The construction of the dam has been stalled for over eight years in the midst of the massive protests from several major organizations led by the All Assam Students’ Union and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti.
The organizations, particularly following the fact that some state experts pointed out defects in the site selection of a region in Zone V, the country’s seismically more active area, were apprehensive about the destructive impact of the dam on the downstream areas of Assam.
According to NHPC officials, the cost of the project has increased to INR 20,000 crore compared to previous estimates of INR 6,900 crore, due to prolonged delays.
Corrective Measures:
NHPC has taken various corrective measures to address the concerns of the stakeholders. The main corrective measures have been taken to address concerns about river-shore erosion in areas 30 km downstream from the dam area. Of this, the 23 km target has been completed under the supervision of the core committee of the Government of Assam.
There was also a fear of the river getting dry up completely in the lean season as earlier, all the eight units of the project were to operate at peak hours only in the evening. Thus, as per the recommendations of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), now one unit will run throughout the day.
Smooth Way Forward:
NHPC is relieved that there are no more legal hurdles, and the work is on full swing on the project. Once commissioned, Assam will get about 25 MW of electricity free from the project. In addition, the power quota for Assam has been increased to 508 MW, with the addition of 300 MW of power from the central quota portion.
On the other hand, Arunachal Pradesh will also receive around 200 MW of free power from the project as a large part of the submerged area is located in the frontier state.
