Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region

• Policy on Hydro Power Development, 2008 was notified by Govt. of India on 31.3.2008 which aimed to provide level playing field to private developers and also provided for a transparent selection criteria for awarding sites to private developers and also for provision of merchant sales of upto a maximum of 40% of the saleable energy. Some of the clauses of the above Policy on Hydro Power Development, 2008, as listed below, have been recently modified:

  The cost plus tariff regime (in which tariff is to be determined by the regulator under section 62 of Electricity Act, 2003) has been extended for public as well as private sector hydro power projects up to December, 2015.

  In order to enable the project developer (public as well as private sector hydro developers) to recover the costs incurred by him in obtaining the project site, as mentioned in para (a) above, he would be allowed a special incentive by way of merchant sales of up to a maximum of 40% of the saleable energy. Projects that do not conform to the prescribed time lines would however lose this incentive of merchant sales in a graded manner. With a view to ensure timely completion of these projects, delays of every six months in the commissioning date would result in reduction of merchant sales by 5%. This condition would be operationalized by the appropriate regulator duly apportioning the Annual Fixed Charge accordingly.

• National Water Policy was notified by the Govt. earlier in the year 2002 which stipulated that in the planning and operation of system, water allocation priority should broadly be in the order of drinking water, irrigation, hydro power, ecology, agro industries and non agriculture industries, navigation and other uses. The policy is being proposed to be revised. For that purpose, Govt. has prepared a Draft National Water Policy in 2012.
• Mega Power Projects Policy has been revised, as per which the minimum qualifying capacity of thermal power plants to avail mega project benefits, has been reduced from 1000 MW to 700 MW in certain special category States of J&K, Sikkim and the seven states of North East. The corresponding qualifying threshold capacity for hydro power plants located in the states of J&K, Sikkim and the seven states of North East, for availing mega benefits has been reduced from 500 MW to 350 MW.
• Constitution of Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) had been constituted by Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) on 7th August, 2009 under the Chairmanship of Secretary (WR) on the directions of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to evolve a suitable framework to Guide and Accelerate the development of Hydropower in the North East. Ministry of Power was also represented in the Committee. Some of the major issues/ constraints in the way of expeditious growth of hydro power development in the Region were identified by the Group like Environment & Forest Clearance including the issue of compensatory forestation, need for infrastructural facilities like roads construction of bridges, strengthening of existing roads, efficient and reliable telecommunication links, better road transport/ air services etc., non-availability of hydrological & other data, the impact of the massive hydro power development in Arunachal Pradesh on down-stream areas in Assam, Non-Availability of skilled man-power, Funding arrangements and Problems associated with Evacuation of Power etc. and policy interventions were proposed in its report submitted in Feb., 2010.
• A Task Force under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister of Power with Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Minister of Water Resources, Minister of New & Renewable Energy, Minister of Environment & Forest and Ministers of Power from Hydro rich states has been constituted to look into all issues relating to development of Hydro Power.

In addition to the above Policy Measures, 'Other Measures' taken for ensuring the timely completion of the projects presently under construction for benefits during 11th & 12th Plan period are given below:

• Monitoring of Ongoing Hydro Projects :
  Advisory Group:

  An Advisory Group has been set up under the chairmanship of the Minister of Power to advise for expeditious completion of ongoing power generation projects.

  Special Monitoring Group:

  A special monitoring group (SMG) under the chairmanship of Secretary (Power) has been constituted to discuss & sort out various issues through video conferencing for J&K and North Eastern Region.

  Following mechanism is in place to monitor the progress of projects under construction:

  A special monitoring group (SMG) under the chairmanship of Secretary (Power) has been constituted to discuss & sort out various issues through video conferencing for J&K and North Eastern Region.

  A Power Project Monitoring Panel (PPMP) has been set up by the Ministry of Power to independently follow up and monitor the progress of the hydro projects.

  Review meetings are taken by Ministry regularly with the concerned officers of CEA, equipment manufacturers, State Utilities/CPSUs/Project developers, etc.

• Monitoring of Future Hydro Projects :In addition to the Task Force which has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister of Power as mentioned above, regular meetings are taken by Chairperson, CEA to review the status of future hydro projects allotted to various developers like preparation of DPR, status of E&F clearance, likely date of placing of order etc.

(Source: Ministry of Power) (as on March, 2012)

(Source: Government of Arunachal Pradesh) (as on April, 2012)

• The Government of Arunachal Pradesh has so far allotted about 140 hydropower projects with the total installed capacity (IC) of 41500 MW that is to be developed on various rivers, rivulets and nalas in 7 major river basins:

  Tawang

  Kameng

  Dikrong

  Subansiri

  Siang

  Dibang

  Lohit

• Status:

  44 are of more than 100 MW each accounting for about 37, 000 MW (90% of the total allotted IC).

  1 commissioned & running - Ranganadi (405 MW) implemented by NEEPCO.

  3 under implementation - Lower Subansiri (2000MW), Kameng (600MW) and Pare (110MW).

  9 projects (10575MW) - techno-economic clearance issued.

  12 projects (11202MW) - DPRs submitted to CEA.

  About 50 projects are of the capacity between 25 MW and 100 MW.

  Another 50 projects approximately are of less than 25 MW (about 10% of the allotted capacity).

• The state government regularly reviews implementation aspects of all of these projects on quarterly basis. In the review meetings senior officers from Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Central Water Commission (CWC), Ministry of Water resources and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) are also invited. In these meetings apart from review of progress the issues relating to various clearances from central government and state government organizations are also identified. Other hindrances coming / likely to come in the way of these projects are also taken into account and help is extended to the power developers to overcome those impediments.
• For state level clearances a single window clearance committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary that meets regularly and cases are cleared in the shortest possible time.
• As a result of all these mechanisms set in place the projects are advancing ahead for their implementation. There are inordinate delays in environment clearance and forest clearance.

(Above 25 MW Capacity and Yet to be Taken up for Construction ) (as on January, 2010)