NEW DELHI: To harness the hydel power potential of Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeastern region, state-run NHPC Ltd plans to set up over 10,000 MW capacity projects in these areas entailing investments of nearly Rs 70,000 crore over the next 8-9 years. While the majority of the investments would go on setting up projects in the Northeast and Himachal Pradesh, officials said it has planned investments worth Rs 23,000 crore for J&K.
“We are going very strong in the Northeast and we hope the projects that are lined up for Jammu & Kashmir will now be executed faster,” said Balraj Joshi, chairman and managing director, NHPC. The firm’s current generation capacity, including its joint venture projects, is 7,071 MW.
The company is in the process of building the largest hydroelectric projects with a capacity of 2,800 MW in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh amounting to Rs 1,600 crore, a 500 MW Teesta-VI project entailing a cost of Rs 5,748 crore, among others.
Besides, NHPC also expects its projects totalling 3,814 MW in Jammu & Kashmir — Ratle project (850 MW), Pakal Dul (1000 MW), Kiru project, (624 MW), Bursar project (800 MW) and Kwar project (540 MW) — will now be executed faster post the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution that grants special status to the state.
These projects will be developed through joint ventures with the state government, with JKSPDC and the country’s largest electricity trader, PTC India Ltd. That apart, the company is also hopeful of early settlement of unpaid dues of nearly Rs 4,500 crore as the Central government is looking at improving its relations with the terror-prone state.
In Q1FY19, NHPC saw 16 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 989.27 crore, mainly on higher revenues. Total income rose to Rs 2,754.48 crore against Rs 2,479.09 crore a year ago. For FY2019-20, NHPC has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 3,800 crore.