L&T gets govt nod to restart U'khand hydel project

The Uttarakhand government has permitted Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to restart the construction of its 99- Mw Singoli-Bhatwari hydel project in the hilly Rudraprayag district.

The move follows intervention by local BJP leaders, including Rudraprayag MLA Asha Nautiyal, who met Chief Minister Ramesh P Nishank and demanded the government gave necessary permission for the resumption of work on the project. L&T too had sought permission repeatedly during the past few months.

After the permission, a top official told Business Standard that the government would shortly sign an MoU with L&T in this regard.

The work on the project was stopped after the government said it wanted additional power from the company for increasing the capacity of the project. The capacity of the project was recently increased to 99 Mw from 60 Mw. “The L&T is now ready to fulfill all the obligations including 12 per cent power to the state on enhance capacity,” the official said.

In the month of May, the government asked L&T to stop the construction of the project saying the implementation agreement had not been signed.

Significantly, the government had suspended its two major projects – 480 -Mw Pala Maneri and 381-Mw Bhaironghati following an agitation by environmentalist GD Agrawal last year.

When contacted, a company official told Business Standard that L&T would fulfill all the obligations provided they were under the government’s policy and guidelines.

Singoli-Bhatwari is the first hydel project in Uttarakhand being allotted to infrastructure giant L&T. The company has proposed to invest Rs 600-700 crore in this project.

Singoli-Bhatwari is being built on the public-private partnership model. It is being executed by on a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) basis. The company will develop, finance, construct, commission and operate the power plant for a period of 45 years.

The project involves design and construction of a 20 m high and 80 m long barrage, 12-km headrace tunnel, surface powerhouse, sub-station and a 12-km long 132 kv transmission line.