Itanagar: The Arunachal Pradesh government has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) for the development of 90 MW New Melling hydro-electric project (HEP) in Tawang district and 120 MW Nafra HEP in West Kameng district.
The MoA was signed by PS Lokhande, Commissioner (Hydro), Government of Arunachal Pradesh (GoAP) and VK Singh, CMD NEEPCO, in presence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein here on Saturday.
With this, the total project allotted to NEEPCO rose to six with a total installed capacity of 1325 MW.
Out of these, it has commissioned three projects namely- 600 MW Kameng HEP, 405MW Ranganadi HEP and 110 MW Pare HEP.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said the Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSU)
will be the harbinger of investment in Arunachal and appreciated the performance of NEEPCO in developing hydropower in the state.
To harness the hydro potential in the state, the Arunachal Pradesh government had allotted hydro projects to several private developers and CPSUs through the MoA route. However, most of the private developers failed to implement the project.
The state government had then started terminating the MoA for a dismal performance in executing the projects. So far the state government has terminated 40 projects, said the CM.
Khandu urged the CMD NEEPCO to resolve the issue of Kurung HEP (330MW) whose MoA was signed in the year 2015, but the implementation has not yet started. He also assured to render all necessary help in terms of local problems in developing projects allotted to NEEPCO.
The CM desired that the hydro potential in the state should not be on paper only but should be developed physically.
Further, he also informed that the NHPC has scheduled to commission two units of Subansiri HEP (2000MW) by August 2022 and full-fledged commissioning by August 2023.
Appreciating the performance of NEEPCO, the Dy CM requested the NEEPCO to commission the projects in a time-bound manner.
He informed that the government has committed to developing self-sufficient hydropower from the hydro penitential in the state under the leadership of the present CM.
Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, who was also present on the occasion, urged the CMD NEEPCO to liaise with the concerned DC and allot contract works to local contractors where expertise does not involve.
The CMD NEEPCO committed to deploying their staff at the site for taking the allotted project in full swing with immediate effect.
