Northeast power projects given lower priority: Lal Thanhawla

Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla today lamented that power projects in the Northeast were accorded lower priority by the central agencies.
Addressing the North East Infrastructure Conclave held in Guwahati, Lal Thanhawla wondered why the NTPC, after having signed an MoU with the Mizoram government about six years back for execution of the 460MW Kolodyne HEP, had not done anything at all at the project site.
"The Chief Minister said that the region is endowed with vast power potential, particularly hydro-power, estimated to be over 63,000 MW which is around 40% of the country's total potential.
The entire region was deficient of power due to the fact that so far only three per cent of the potential has been harnessed, he said.

"There is a huge mismatch between peak demand and peak availability," he said.
In states like Mizoram even domestic demand, not to speak of industrial or commercial enterprises, cannot be fully met, he lamented.
The national target of generating 88,000 MW of power during the 12th Plan would be difficult to achieve without raising the level of exploiting the dormant potential of the Northeast region substantially.
"The Centre and the States of the region will have to jointly make serious efforts to harness at least half of the 89 per cent untapped potential (55,500MW) of the region over the next ten years, he said.