Green Hurdle Mires NHPC's Kotli Bhel Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources India (Delhi, India)--Uncertainty continues to loom over NHPC Limited's (BSE:533098) (Faridabad, Haryana) Kotli Bhel projects, as India's Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has declined permission for the diversion of forest land for the construction of the three hydroelectric projects, which are proposed to be developed on the River Ganga and its tributaries.

The execution of the Kotli Bhel projects has suffered inordinate delays due to waiting on forest clearance from the Ministry. The Kotli Bhel projects involve cascade development of three hydroelectric projects: the 195-megawatt (MW) Kotli Bhel Stage I-A; the 320-MW Kotli Bhel Stage I-B; and the 530-MW Kotli Bhel Stage II.

NHPC received Techno Economic Clearances for these projects from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) (New Delhi, India) in 2006. The hydropower utility later signed implementation agreements for these hydroelectric schemes with the state of Uttrakhand in June 2008.

In the absence of the requisite statutory clearance, NHPC has been unable to obtain the capital approval for the projects from the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA). The hydroelectric major has now requested the Ministry to expeditiously issue the clearance so that it can initiate development work at the proposed project sites.

Although the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the MoEF recently recommended Kotli Bhel Stage I-A be granted forest clearance for the diversion of 258.74 hectares of forest land, the final clearance has yet to be accorded by the Ministry.

The Kotli Bhel projects are run-of- river schemes envisaged to be developed on the River Ganga and its tributaries, in the Pauri and Tehri Garhwal districts of the Uttrakhand state.

With an installed generation capacity of 5,295 MW, NHPC is India's largest hydropower utility. The company is currently pursuing clearances from the government of India for several hydropower projects with an aggregate capacity of 9,651 MW. Out of these, seven projects with an aggregate capacity of 5,965 MW are planned to be implemented by NHPC on its own, while other projects are planned for execution through joint ventures.

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