Five power projects of NHPC facing cost over-runs

Project cost have gone up due to environment hurdles, local opposition and contractual issues

Five power projects of state-run NHPC are facing cost over-runs due to delays in receiving environment and other regulatory clearances.

"Project cost of five of our projects has gone up tremendously and all this is due to environment hurdles, local opposition and contractual issues," a company official told PTI.

The expenditure on the projects -- Teesta Low Dam IV (West Bengal), Subansiri Lower (Assam), Parbati II (Himachal Pradesh), Nimmo Bazgo and Uri II (Jammu & Kashmir)-- which are in various stages of construction, has exceeded the amount that was initially sanctioned.

These projects have a combined capacity of 3,345 MW.

"In some cases like Subansiri (2,000 MW), the cost of the project may be nearly doubled by the time it is commissioned," the official said.

The original sanctioned cost of the plant was Rs 6,285.33 crore which was revised to Rs 10,667.09 crore and is now likely to touch Rs 12,000 crore, the official added.

Subansiri Lower project has been stalled since December 2011, after the local people raised issues related to its safety and downstream impact.

"We are hopeful that the construction work on the project would start again next month," he said.

The original cost of the state-run company's Parbati II (800 MW) project in Himachal Pradesh, which is marred by contractual issues, was Rs 3,919.59 crore and the revised expenditure stands at Rs 5,365.70 crore.

Work on the Parbati project was stalled due to differences with the civil contractor. The project is under execution at present.

The cost of the company's two hydel plants in J&K -- Uri II (240 MW) and Nimmo Bazgo (45 MW) -- has been revised from Rs 1,724.79 crore and Rs 611.01 crore to Rs 2,080.82 crore and Rs 936.10 crore, respectively.

NHPC's Teesta Low Dam Project IV (160 MW) in West Bengal was sanctioned an amount of Rs 1,061.38 crore which got revised to Rs 1,501.75 crore.

At present, NHPC generates 5,702 MW electricity from 17 hydel stations in the country and is also constructing 4,095 MW worth of projects.