Most hydel power projects delayed by years leading to cost overruns

KOLKATA: Only seven hydel projects out of a total 48 under construction are delayed. Of these most are delayed by more than five years while others are delayed by a year or two.

For example NHPC's Parbai-II is delayed by more than seven years. Envisaged as a 4 x 200 mw in 2002. It was estimated to cost Rs 3,919 crore. Poor geology of the location, and issues with its contractor HJV leading to termination of contract as well as work being affected due to strike by locals demanding employment led to several years of delay.

A new contractor, Gammon-CMC has recently been appointed and the commissioning date has now been moved to 2017 leading to cost overrun of about Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 5,365 crore.

The Maheshwar, 400 mw hydel power project under SMHPCL was scheduled for 2002. It has now been rescheduled for 2015 and its cost shot up from Rs 1,569 crore to Rs 2449 crore. BHEL had suspended work in Nov-11 due to cash flow problem with developer. The project is also suffering from R&R issues.