On the cards: 11 GW hydel project in Arunachal Pradesh

India is planning a hydropower project on the strategically important Siang River in Arunachal Pradesh of 11,000 MW capacity, people aware of the matter said. “The purpose of the project, apart from generating electricity, is also to control floods,” one of the persons cited earlier said, adding that state-owned NHPC Ltd has submitted a pre-feasibility report for the Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage project.

The project, spearheaded by the ministry of jal shakti, will aim at live storage of 9 billion cubic meters of water. The report on the project has been sent to the Central Electricity Authority for approval.

“The pre-feasibility report for the project was submitted around December end,” said the person quoted above. “The next step after its approval would be the pre-detailed project report.”

NHPC may be asked to develop the project as a joint venture with either North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd or the Arunachal Pradesh government, according to the sources.

The cost of setting up a hydroelectric project is generally ₹6-10 crore/MW, and the gestation period for such projects is usually over nine years, depending on the size and the works.

Siang is the most important river in Arunachal which also forms the main trunk of river Brahmaputra. The river flows from China, where it is called Yarlung Tsangpo. China is also planning to build a dam on its part of the river to produce 60,000 MW of electricity.