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The Public Investment Board has recommended the approval of three power projects worth Rs.5055.13 crores. Announcing this at a press conference here today, the Power Minister, Shri P.M. Sayeed that two of the projects namely,. Nimoo Bazgo Hydro electric Project and Chutak Hydro Electric Project are to be set up in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation stone of the two projects one in Leh and one in Kargil on Saturday.
The third project cleared by the Public Investment Board is a transmission project for evacuation of power from the coal base power plant to be built by NTPC at Barh in Bihar.
The proposed 45MW Nimoo Bazgo Project in Leh is harbinger of a new era. This project would not only fulfill the power needs of the area, which is the foremost requirement of the region but it would further help towards socio-economic development of the area and give a boost to tourism industry in Ladakh also.
The proposed project is a run-of-river scheme located on river Indus in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir. The project site is located near village Alchi and is about 70 km from Leh by road. The project involves construction of a 57 meter high concrete gravity dam with Dam toe surface powerhouse. The installed capacity of the project will be 3 x15 MW and is estimated to cost Rs.629.65 crores.
The Chutak Hydro Electric Project is in district Kargil of Ladakh region with a generation capacity of 44 MW. This project is also a run-of-river scheme located on river Suru. The powerhouse will be located near village Chutak, which is 9 km from Kargil. The estimated cost of the project is Rs.631.72 crores.
The third project is for evacuation of power from the NTPC power plant at Barh in Bihar with a capacity of 1980 MW. The power from this generation project is to be used by Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh. The total route length of this line is 1400 kms and will cost Rs.3793.76 crores.
The Minister also announced that extension of six months has been given to ten states and extension of three months has been given to Bihar for reorganization or the State Electricity Boards beyond 9th June, 2005. It may be recalled that of the thirteen states which asked for extension in June, 2004, two states namely Maharashtra and Gujarat have since unbundled their electricity boards. Of the ten states given six months extension, Assam and Madhya Pradesh have almost completed reorganization with only the trading function to be hived off. West Bengal has already separated the generation function from the State Electricity Board while the remaining eight states are yet to unbundle any of the three functions.
EK/MK.
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