Ankur Garg, Commissioner (Hydropower) and Bhupender Gupta, Director (Technical) THDCIL, signed the MoA on behalf of the Govt of Arunachal Pradesh and M/s THDCIL respectively.
Earlier in August this year, the State Government had signed MoAs with three central PSUs – NHPC Ltd, SJVN Ltd and NEEPCO Ltd for developing 12 (twelve) hydropower projects with a combined capacity of 11,517 MW to be developed in Subansiri, Dibang and Siang basins.
With the allotment of Kalai-II project to THDCIL, the state has thus concluded MoAs for 13 projects with a total capacity of 12,717 MW in this calendar year. Kalai-II project was initially allotted to an independent power developer in 2009 but remained stalled due to various reasons. To unlock this potential, the Central and the State Governments made joint and concerted efforts over the last two years and the award of this project to THDCIL today will help restart its execution. This is the first project to be allotted to a central PSU in the Lohit basin and is also the first project to be taken up by Ms THDCIL in the state.
Ankur Garg, Commissioner (Hydropower) said that the project will bring in investment of over Rs. 13,000 Crore in the state during its construction phase. Once commissioned, it will generate over Rs. 300 Crore annually in free power revenue for the state and about Rs. 25 Crore annually for the Local Area Development Fund.
The Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein conveyed that the project will create historic development and employment opportunities in the Lohit basin area. It will be developed in partnership with the State Government which will have a 26% equity share. The dividends from this equity participation will further augment the State’s earnings from the projects. The Chief Minister Pema Khandu thanked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Power Minister R. K. Singh for unflinching support towards restarting the project. He expressed that the state is committed to ensuring full development of the hydropower potential for meeting the energy security of the country and asked all the stakeholders to implement the project in a mission mode.
