The Jammu and Kashmir government has announced a policy for development of small hydro power projects with private sector participation, in an effort to utilise the large hydro potential in the state.
Speaking at a press conference, the Minister for Power, Mohammed Sharief Niaz, said the government had thrown open for execution all small hydro projects to Independent Power Producers (IPP’s), including private sector entities and central power entities.
The Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation would notify projects , indicating installed capacity, after pre-feasibility studies. They would then seek bids for the projects, which will be offered for a period of 45 years from the date of the award. and on completion they will revert back to the state government or re-extended on mutually agreeable terms..
The need for private sector participation was felt by the present government to be necessary in view of the negligible utilisation of Jammu and Kashmir’s large hydro potential, estimated at 20,000MW. Of this, under 1500MW has been utilised, less than 10% of the available potential.