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| Baglihar may change J&K destiny | | Power is switched on | | First phase of prestigious Baglihar hydro-electric power station has been switched on. The formal commissioning of this 450 MW project was marked by the presence of a star studded gathering of top political elite of the country. It may be mentioned here that after surviving prolonged diplomatic rows, geographical hurdles and bureaucratic red-tapism, J&K's most ambitious power project, so far, the 450 MW Baglihar hydro-electric power project is all set for commercial generation by middle of October. Test run on three turbines of 150 MW has been performed successfully.
On Baglihar, India had fought a long row with Pakistan under the Indus Water Treaty. It was in February last year that a World Bank commissioned expert panel headed by Raymond Liffete cleared the project of all objection with some suggestions of slight design change including reduction in height of the dam to 143 meters from the then height of 145 meters . On July 31 this year, a three-member team from Pakistan led by Central Water Commission (Indus Water Treaty) Commissioner Syed Jamait Ali Shah had visited Baglihar project and had given a clean chit to the project in its report, after complete inspections.
The project was started in 1999 and is almost complete after much delay due to dispute raised by Pakistan and changes undertaken in design. The project, constructed by Jaypee Indistrues, was initially slated to be completed at a cost of Rs 4000 crores by June 2006 but due to unprecedented floods in mid 2005, the project received a severe set back, as its tunnels got severely damaged. The natural calamity resulted in time and cost over run in the project with the project cost rising from Rs 4000 crores to Rs 5200 crores.
This is first major state-owned power project in Jammu and Kashmir and its commissioning is going to be a major milestone in economic development of the state. All other major functional projects like Dul Hasti are in the Center sector owned and operated by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation in which Jammu and Kashmir gets only 12 per cent royalty share of the total production.
There are more than 25 power projects –both in State and Central sectors –harnessing a potential of around 1500 MWs. Some of the projects are operational while others are into various stages of completion.
The peak hour electricity requirement in Jammu and Kashmir around 2040 MWs but the total production in state sector has so far been only 311 MWs. After resorting to scheduled power curtailments, the minimum supply is managed by around 950 MWs –procured from royalty out of Central Sector projects, Power Trading Corporation of India and other sources. This supply too falls to around 650 MWs in peak summers as well as in peak winters due to drop in river discharge and transmission and distribution losses.
With generation of 450 MWs of power at Baglihar power project the total electricity production in the State Sector will go upwards 800 MWs. This will not only push the economic growth of state but will also bring down the huge expenditure on electricity procurement. |
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