Govt mulls using NRIs’ land for solar projects

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Lallian Kalan (Jalandhar), May 12

New and Renewable Energy Minister Bikram Majithia today said the state government was mulling a plan to encourage NRIs of the state to offer land on 25-year lease to Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) for setting up 100-MW solar energy power plants.

The minister said, “The way we have had PUDA-approved colonies, we will have PEDA-approved land lease policy for NRIs at the rate of Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 an acre, depending on location.” He said the PEDA lease would give them a high sense of security as the government agency would become their land caretaker, besides ensuring a 5 per cent increase in returns each year. “The clean energy produced in the plant would be bought by the PSPCL at Rs 8 per unit and distributed further,” he said. Majithia said this while inaugurating a 1-MW solar energy plant by NRI brothers Avtar Singh Kang and Raovarinder Singh Kang. The solar energy project has been constructed by their company IK Energy Pvt Ltd on seven acres of land with an investment of Rs 7.25 crore.

He said his department had already got an offer of another 2,000 to 2,500 acres of land to be taken on lease. “We will ensure that there are no departmental glitches and the work gets executed in six to seven months. The NRI will get his returns timely via a cheque. We already have got the scheme for farmers cleared through the Cabinet. Now, we will devise another one for the NRIs and get it cleared from our CM,” he said.

Majithia said solar plants worth an investment of Rs 1,500 crore had already been set up and new ones that would lead to the production of 229 MW were coming up with an investment of Rs 1,600 crore.