Outdoing China`s Three Gorges project

( It took them 60 years to realise there is a huge potential for hydro power in Arunachal Pradesh.)

[size=10pt]Outdoing China`s Three Gorges project[/size]

ARUNACHAL'S LIQUID GOLD - I

Anand Sankar / New Delhi June 3, 2008, 0:20 IST

Arunachal Pradesh accounts for one-third of the country's hydro power potential — the largest in any state — though less than 1 per cent of this potential has been realised. That will change soon as work begins on some of the largest hydro projects in the country, finds Anand Sankar, who travelled to the region. This is the first of a three-part series.

The Three Gorges project across the Yangtze in China may have set a new benchmark for scale of hydroelectric projects but the promise of what is possible from the mighty Brahmaputra river in the north east of the country is far greater. While the Three Gorges is expected to generate a maximum of 22,500 Mw, the upper tributaries of the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh are projected to generate a minimum of 36,000 Mw when they hum with turbines.

The actual hydro potential of the state is much higher, at above 50,000 Mw. The region will soon boast the largest power project in the country — the 2,000-Mw Subansiri Lower project. This is 500 Mw more than the current largest hydro project — Natpha Jhakri in Himachal Pradesh.

"Work goes on here 24 hours a day and all round the year," says the chief engineer at the Subansiri Lower site, where over 5,000 people are working to get the project commissioned by the deadline of 2012.

Also in the pipeline is an even bigger project — the Rs 16,425-crore Dibang Multipurpose Project (DMP) — which is expected to generate 3,000 Mw when it is done.

Both these projects are being developed by the government-owned mini-ratna company National Hydro Power Corporation or NHPC.

In addition, there are over 100 smaller run-of-the-river projects proposed by private and public sector companies in the state — which account for a third of the country's overall hydro power potential of 150,000 Mw. These are awaiting a nod from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which approves all projects of 25 Mw and above.

Companies from as far away as the Netherlands and Brazil are queuing up for a slice of the Arunachal hydro pie.

While construction at Subansiri lower is on at full swing, supportive infrastructure is coming up in the state and in the region in anticipation of demand. For instance, two new bridges across the river Brahmaputra are being built at Bogabil and Sadiya in Assam to make it easier to ferry material for the projects. "India's gold rush to the east" is however not without its share of critics.

Activists and watchdogs allege that in a rush to begin construction, basic regulatory checks and balances are being given a go-by. For instance, construction of Subansiri Lower has started without the mandatory Memoranda of Understanding with the state governments of Arunachal and Assam.