Itanagar, Mar 11: Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister cum Minister of Power Chowna Mein on Saturday visited NHPC’s 2000 MW Subansiri Lower Hydro Electric Project at Gerukamukh along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border.
Taking to Twitter, Mein wrote: “Delighted to see that the project is nearing completion with 86% of the overall progress made till date. The project is expected to be completed by May 2023 and two units each of 250 MW will be commissioned by June this year. Expected to complete all the 8 units with total capacity of 2,000 MW of power by June 2024.”
Once completed, Arunachal Pradesh will get 240 MW as a share of 12% free power from the Project which will generate revenue of around Rs 440 crore annually for the state exchequer, the Deputy Chief Minister said.
Mention may be made that the construction work of the mega power project was stalled for nearly eight years, from December 2011 to October 2019, due to intense protests by many groups in neighbouring Assam, fearing safety and downstream impact.
Meanwhile, an NHPC official said that the Deputy Chief Minister and other dignitaries visited various sites of the Project and took stock of the progress of ongoing construction activities with Executive Director of Subansiri Lower Project Vipin Gupta briefing him about the progress in construction activities of the Project. Representatives of major works contractors engaged in the Project also briefed him about the construction activities in individual fronts.
Later on, Mein took a review meeting with senior officials of NHPC in which brief presentation on status of works was made by the Head of Project, SLHEP.
Appreciating the hard work of the project team and the progress achieved so far, he appealed everyone to put their best efforts in completing this prestigious project on time as this will certainly boost the socio-economic development of the region.
At the meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister also discussed in detail about the other projects allocated to the NHPC in Subansiri basin – Subansiri Middle HEP (Kamle) and Subansiri Upper (Menga) HEP – and directed the power giant to initiate immediate activities in those upcoming projects, assuring all support and cooperation from the Govt of Arunachal Pradesh.
During the visit, the Deputy Chief Minister was accompanied by legislators Balo Raja, Tarin Dakpe, Taniya Soki and Rode Bui, Secretary (Power) Ajay Kumar Bisht and Chief Engineer (Hydro Power Development) R K Joshi.
On their arrival at Gerukamukh complex of the Project, the Deputy Chief Minister and other dignitaries were accorded a warm welcome by the Executive Director of Subansiri Lower Project.
The Deputy Chief Minister was accorded guard of honour by the CISF Unit posted at the Project.
