No Shangri-la: 5,000mw Bhutan JVs set to energise India story

NEW DELHI: A solution to India’s growing power crisis lies just across the border, in Bhutan. Realising this, the government is moving fast to set in motion the second biggest hydro power project — the 1,095-mw Punatsangchu I.

The ministries of external affairs and power are working at getting the formalities out of the way. The project will be a joint venture between the two governments. It is part of the 5,000 mw partnership the two countries have agreed to.
The plan is to import 5,000 mw of power by 2020.

The first off the block is the 1,095 mw Punatsangchu I hydro project. The government is finalising the inter-governmental agreement for it. In this connection, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met power secretary Anil Razdan on Thursday to work out the technical issues, including funding for the project. The feasibility report of the project is ready. Hydro major National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) will execute the project, which will be a joint venture between the two countries.

India had agreed to fast-track the project and the ministry of external affairs is pushing to get the basics in place so the inter-governmental agreement is signed and work can start on the project. At their meeting, the two secretaries also discussed new projects and how these could be pushed forward.

Apart from Punatsangchu I, India and Bhutan have signed MoUs for 992 mw Punatsangchu II and 670 mw Mangdechu hydro power projects. Sources said NHPC, which was to prepare the detailed project report for the power plants, has already done its job.

In a goodwill gesture, India had recently revised the 57-year-old Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty and among the many additions in the pact was the inclusion of an article on increasing economic cooperation, which is a reference to the ongoing collaboration in the area of hydropower.

With Bhutan moving towards constitutional democracy, New Delhi wants to contemporarise ties and increase cooperation in the hydropower sector, which would benefit the national interests of both the countries.

These projects are part of the India-Bhutan vision in hydro power development.