Kozhikode: Several major hydroelectric projects in Kerala, including the Pallivasal Extension Scheme, that have witnessed time and cost overruns or remain incomplete, have inflicted a loss of over Rs 10,000 crore to the state exchequer without being able to generate a single unit of power.
According to power minister M M Mani, as many as twenty-six hydropower projects in the state remain unfinished. Documents obtained through an RTI query, however, showed that works of nine of the KSEB’s hydroelectric projects were left halfway through, owing to various reasons.
The state government has so far spent about Rs 2,000 crore on the 60-MW Pallivasal Extension scheme. The resultant direct cash loss to the exchequer due to the inordinate delay in the completion of the project is over 500 crores per annum.
Even as many power projects under construction are witnessing delay and cost escalation, the KSEB is expending about Rs 7,500 crore annually for sourcing power from outside the state.
The Pallivasal Extension scheme was scheduled to be commissioned in 2011. However, the project has already been delayed by over seven years following legal entanglement and technical issues over the construction of a tunnel to install a penstock near the project site.
As it was assessed that the project could be commissioned in 2011, the KSEB had imported the required machineries and equipment for power production in 2010. Most of these costly devises are gathering rust and the warranty period for them had expired long back. Though the project could be completed within one-and-a-half years, the KSEB has given a three-year extension to the contractors.
Delayed projects
• The execution of 3-mega-watt project at Vanchiyam in Kannur was started way back in 1993. Only 20 percent of the total works have been completed so far.
• Only 63 percent of the work of the Sengulam augmentation project could be completed. It was expected to be commissioned in 2013.
• Half of the construction works of the 40-mega-watt Thottiyar hydroelectric project at Valara near Adimaly, which was scheduled to be commissioned in 2012, still remain.
• Though about 70 percent of the Peringalkuthu Hydro Electric Power Project was completed, it has run into inordinate delay. The original plan was to commission it in 2017.
• The Bhoothathan Kettu project was supposed to be commissioned in 2017, but only 50 percent of the work has been completed so far. The project could be delayed by three more years.
• The 2-mega-watt Upper Kallar Small Hydro Electric Project was scheduled to be commissioned this year, but could complete only 11 percent of the construction works.
• The Chathankottanada project was expected to be completed in 2012, but the KSEB is clueless about its future.
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