49 hydro electric projects to generate 13,000 MW of power

THANE: There are 49 hydro-electric power projects under execution or at a planning stage in the country with a capacity of 13,000 MW costing about Rs 80,000 crore, Hydro Project Monitoring Division of Ministry of Power has said. Replying to the queries raised by an RTI activist and former national council member of the BJP Om Prakash Sharma, the Ministry said that there was only one project planned in Maharashtra that of Koyna Left Bank which would be taken up in the 13th five year plan to generate 80 MW of power and would cost Rs 245 crore.

The ministry informed that there were 16 projects underway in the Central sector that would generate 7,773 MW of power and would cost Rs 47,770 crore and another 16 projects in the State sector which would generate 1,688 MW of power and would cost Rs 11,295 crore. In the private sector, a total of 17 projects are under way and they would generate 3570 MW of power and would cost Rs 21,201 crore, according to the ministry.

Of the total planned projects, the lion share has gone to Himachal Pradesh with 12 plants which are expected to generate 3,282 MW of power and cost Rs 20,123 crore followed by Sikkim with 10 plants to generate 2421 mws of power and cost Rs 13802 crore. The projects planned in the 13th plan are Koyna Left Bank in Maharashtra under State sector, Tehri in Uttarakhand under the Central sector and four in Sikkim under private sector. PTI COR ABC