J-K Power Development Corp approves work plan of Rs 1,276.69 crore

The Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) on Wednesday approved a work plan of Rs 1,276.69 crore for the current financial year.

In a meeting, the board of directors of JKSPDC maintained that hydropower is the most promising revenue generating sector of the UT and exploiting it optimally could address many of the woes of J-K.

"The Board of Directors (BoD) of JKSPDC consented for an ambitious working plan for the year 2020-21 with an outlay of Rs 1276.69 crores for creation, renovation and maintenance of assets of the Corporation," an official spokesman said.

The meeting was chaired by Baseer Khan, advisor to Lieutenant governor, and attended by senior officials of the corporation and government.

The board decided that from here onwards the directors would meet every three months.

It was also decided that all the accounting issues should be cleared within a month and balance sheets prepared and tabled in the next meeting, the spokesman said.

The board of directors asked the corporation that work on all the ongoing projects should be expedited besides putting their best to take other projects in hand forthwith.

The ongoing Hydro Electric Projects (HEP) for which funds have been proposed in the work plan include 37.50 MW Parnai HEP (Rs 155.36 crore), 12 MW New Karnah HEP (Rs 44.59 crores),Dah-Hanu transmission line (Rs 70.20 crore), 9 MW Dah HEP (Rs 11.86 crore), and 9 MW Hanu HEP (Rs 11.81 crore).

These projects are going to help in tiding over the energy crisis in J-K and Ladakh to a larger extent.

The BoD also approved capital works to the tune of Rs 172.45 crore for Renovation Modernisation and Uprating (RMU) of many operational HEPs. It includes Baglihar-II HEP (Rs 24.90 crore), Sewa-III (21.53 crore), Lower Jehlum HEP (Rs 16.53 crore), Upper Sind HEP-II (Rs 18.34 crore),Chenani-I HEP (Rs9.98 crore), Chenani-III HEP (Rs 9.35 crore).

Besides funds for the same purpose have been assigned for 11 other HEPs. An amount of Rs 333.81 crore has been proposed for new projects to be taken in hand in the current work plan.

These include New Ganderbal HEP (Rs 80.00 crore), Kirthai-I HEP (Rs 31.84 crore), Kirthai-II HEP (Rs 33.90 crore), Lower Kalnai HEP (Rs 38.06 crore).

An amount of Rs 150.00 crore for PMDP projects is also part of this plan.

For meeting the operation and maintenance (O&M) costs of its already created assets and projects, an amount of Rs 269.22 crore has been kept. These include Rs 132.80 crore for BHEP-I and Rs 111.60 crore for BHEP-II.

Funds for some 18 other HEPs have also been proposed under this head.

The corporation is anticipated to generate a revenue of Rs 2676.31 crore from different activities and loans.

An amount of Rs 1368.98 crore is expected to be realised from the sale of power by the corporation.

The same amount has also been contemplated to be spent on different activities, including on works programme (2020-21) and repayment of loans and interest servicing.

Under Corporate Social Responsibility, the board had earlier provided a bus to a school in Ladakh and renovated another school building at Basholi incurring a total cost of about Rs 19 lakh.

It confirmed the insurance cover for Rs 2050 crore of Baglihar HEP stage one and two at a premium of Rs 37.14 crore for the year 2020-21, the spokesman said.