Informist, Wednesday, Sep 11, 2024

--Cabinet OKs outlay of 124.61 bln rupees for hydro projects

NEW DELHI – The Union Cabinet today approved outlay of 124.61 bln rupees for the development of 31,350 MW hydroelectric projects over the next eight years. The scheme will widen the ambit of budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure such as construction of transmission lines from power houses, ropeways, railway siding, and communication infrastructure.

"The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal of the ministry of power for modification of the scheme of budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure for hydro electric projects with a total outlay of Rs.12461 crore (124.61 bln rupees). The scheme would be implemented from FY 2024-25 to FY 2031-32," according to a statement from the Cabinet Secretariat.

This would help in faster development of hydroelectric projects and improve infrastructure in the remote and hilly project locations, the government said. It would also provide substantial direct employment and indirect employment to the local people. "It would encourage fresh investments into hydro power sector and incentivise timely completion of new projects," as per the release.

According to the government, the scheme will be applicable to all hydropower projects of more than 25 MW capacity, including the private sector projects which have been allotted on a transparent basis. "This scheme will also be applicable to all pumped storage projects (PSPs) including captive/merchant PSPs, provided that the project has been allotted on a transparent basis. A cumulative PSP capacity of about 15,000 MW would be supported under the scheme," it said.

As per the release, the limit of budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure has been rationalised to 10 mln rupees per megawatt for projects up to 200 MW, and anything over and above 200 MW will fetch 7.5 mln rupees per megawatt. "For exceptional cases the limit of budgetary support may go up to 15 mln rupees per MW provided sufficient justification exists," the government said.

In March 2019, the Cabinet had approved budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure such as construction of roads and bridges. End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Aditya Sakorkar

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