Kullu: Delay in NHPC project causes Rs 7,214 crore loss

Kullu, November 17

The estimated cost of the 800 MW Parbati-II Hydroelectric Project (PHEP-II) of the NHPC has increased from Rs 3,919.59 crore in December 2001 to over Rs 11,134 crore due to delay in the excavation of a 9,050-m tunnel, which is part of a 6-metre wide and 31.5-km long head race tunnel (HRT) between Barshaini and Siund. The boring for the tunnel was accomplished last month and the project is proposed to be commissioned by December 2024.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had inaugurated the project and the NHPC started the construction work in 2000. The excavation work for the Barshaini and Siund tunnel stretch started with a tunnel boring machine (TBM) from the ADIT-II in Shilagarh in 2003. Initially, the target to complete the project was 2009. However, the TBM was damaged when heavy debris entered the tunnel in November 2006 and the excavation work on only a 4-km stretch had been completed.

The NHPC resumed the construction with the help of TBM in May 2010 after giving the contract to a new contractor but the boring work could not be accelerated due to ingress of slush from the leaking water source inside the tunnel. Even after repeatedly restoring the TBM, the boring could not be expedited and only around 70 metres more were excavated till 2014 and that too after huge expenditures. The work on the remaining portion of the tunnel was executed through drill and blast method was accomplished by then.

The path of the project faced hardships due to tough geological conditions and its cost increased three times. The project management did not give up and continued the work. The powerhouse of the project in Siund was completed in 2012. A dam was also built in Barshaini. Meanwhile, power generation was started in 2017 by diverting the water of the Jiva nullah and running a turbine in the Siund Powerhouse. The project has so far produced electricity worth Rs 174 crore using one of the four pelton turbine generation units of 200 MW each.

Due to the delay in the project, besides financial losses, the development resulting from electricity available across the country has also been adversely affected. The state was to get 13 per cent free electricity as per the MoU and as such losses to Himachal runs into several crores of rupees per year. Energy generation in the PHEP-II will illuminate states like Chandigarh, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.