Nayar hydel projects hit roadblock

Empowered committee yet to approve the four projects

With 56 hydel projects coming under the scanner on grounds of being allotted to liquor companies, four others in the Nayar Valley of Uttarakhand appear to have hit a roadblock.

After the re-bidding process last year, Hyderbad-based Coromandal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd won the contract for the development of the 17-Mw Nayar dam, 2-Mw Santudhar-I, 2-Mw Santudhar-II and 2.25-Mw Biyali Gaon — all on the Nayar river, a Ganga tributary in Pauri district. The government, however, is yet to give final approval.

“The decision regarding the projects will be taken by the empowered committee on hydel projects,” said a government official.

The re-bidding process began last year when WWI-RRE, a consortium of Worlds Window Impex and RR Energy, withdrew from the scene after winning the contract for the four projects of a total capacity of 23.25 Mw. After depositing the initial deposit amount of Rs 50 lakh with the government, the consortium backed out apparently due to recession and the high upfront premium of Rs 29.5 crore.

The Uttarakhand Infrastructure Projects Company (UIPC) Ltd, a joint venture between IL&FS and the state government, had finalised the bidding process for these projects. An investment of Rs 200 crore has been proposed.

The four projects would generate 98 million units of power. The biggest of them — Nayar Small Hydroelectric Project — is near Marora village and has three turbine-generating units, each of 5.66 Mw.

The projects are pitched to be constructed along the river in a cascading manner.