In a meeting of Union minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana held in Delhi on Wednesday on the issue of Kishau Dam Project, CM Dhami said that in case of increase in the cost of project, the power component cost should be kept constant or the increased power component cost should be borne by the four beneficiary states — Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. He added that it would help provide electricity to the consumers in the state at affordable rates.
The implementation of the project is being done by Kishau Corporation Limited, a joint venture of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh governments.
The project was declared as a national project in February 2008. The Kishau Dam project will be the second largest dam project in Asia. It would have a height of 236 metres and a length of 680 metres. Kishau project is proposed on Tons river in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand and Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh.
The project would irrigate 97,076 hectares and also provide water for meeting irrigation requirements in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. It would also meet the water requirements for Delhi. A total of 660MW of hydroelectricity will be generated, through which 1,379MU of green electric energy will be obtained, that would be equally available to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The total cost of the project by the Central Water Commission as per the price level of March 2018 is Rs 11,550 crore, in which the cost of water component is Rs 10,013.96 crore and the cost of electricity component is Rs 1,536.04 crore. Presently, the detailed project report (DPR) of the project is under progress and the cost of the project is estimated to increase.
As it is a national project, 90 per cent of the water component cost (irrigation and drinking water) would be financed by the Union government and 10 per cent by the beneficiary states for the implementation of the project. The electricity component cost would be jointly shared by the Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh governments.
