By: Vijay Kumar Verma, Editor-ICN Group
SHIMLA: During his two days visit to Nepal this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay foundation stone of 900 MW Arun – 3 Hydro Power Project being implemented by public sector SJVN Limited in Nepal. The ceremony is slated to take place at Kathmandu in the presence of Prime Minister of Nepal on May 11, 2018
Arun -3 is a run of river hydroelectric project being developed on Arun River in Sankhubasabha district of Nepal, told Nand Lal Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director of the company in an exclusive interview with this reporter. He told that this project had been designed on the lines of India’s largest 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power station being successfully operated by SJVN Limited since 2003.
The Arun – 3 project, he informed, will have a 70 meter high concrete dam to divert flow of river Arun into the intakes and a 11.7 km long head race tunnel of 9.5 m dia. The power house of the project, he said, is being developed as a underground structure to house 4 Francis turbine units each of 225 MW capacity. The project will also have a 149 m high surge shaft, as a major component, he told.
For the implementation of the Project, all the four major contracts including three for civil works and one for electro mechanical works, he told, have already been awarded. The electro mechanical contract for supply of 4 numbers of Francis turbines, he said, had been awarded to BHEL, while the other civil works too have been awarded to Indian companies having expertise in execution of such large hydro power projects. The project, he informed will be implemented at a cost of Rs.5723 crore within a period of five years.
Project Development Agreement (PDA) for this 900 MW project, Nand Lal Sharma told, too had been signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kathmandu, Nepal in the year 2014. The project on completion in, he informed, will generate 4019 million units of electricity per annum. As per the agreement, 21.9 percent of the electricity produced will be supplied to the Government of Nepal free of cost while the remaining power will be at the disposal of SJVN Limited for sale on merchant basis.
This the largest hydro power plant being developed in Nepal and the second largest for SJVN Limited which had implemented the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station in Himachal Pradesh as flagship project of the company, told Nand Lal Sharma. The Arun – 3 project is being developed through a wholly owned subsidiary of SJVN named “SJVN Arun – 3 Power Development Company (SAPDC). SAPDC, he told had been incorporated & registered in 2013 as a private limited company under the Nepalese Companies Act 2063 duly floated by single shareholding company SJVN Ltd to plan, promote, organize & execute the Arun-3 Hydro-electric Project. For evacuation of power from the Project, he told, SJVN is also laying a 300 Km long 400KV D/C Diding (in Nepal)- Dhalkebar (in Nepal)- Muzzafarpur (in India) Transmission Line:
The project, Nand Lal Sharma told will be a major milestone in the history of SJVN Limited which is already operating four power projects in the country with a capacity of 1965 MW. While foundation stone for the company’s 60 MW Naitwar Mori Hydroelectric Project in Uttarakhand was laid by the Union Minister of Power on 30th March, 2018, the company’s Business Strategy for future includes 10 Hydro Power Projects with capacity of 3218 MW – of which 7 projects with 1148 MW capacity are in India and 3 Projects with 2070 MW capacity are in neighbouring countries viz Nepal and Bhutan. 1320 MW Thermal Power station, at Buxar in Bihar and 50 MW Wind Power Project at Sadla in Gujarat, he added are also coming up fast.
