With Indus Water Treaty In Abeyance, India To Begin Construction Of Sawalkote Hydro Project In Jammu And Kashmir

Srinagar: With India having put the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance after the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, it has now decided to construct the 1856 Mega Watt Sawalkote hydro-power project on the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir, which was in limbo for 40 years.

This is the third big project which India will resume after the IWT suspension. Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar on June 12 disclosed in a press conference in Srinagar that the government will resume the Tulbul Navigation Project on Wullar Lake in Sopore in Kashmir. The project was halted in 1987 after opposition from Pakistan. In 2012, militants lobbed a grenade at the site, which put a complete halt to the 439-foot-long and 40-foot-wide barrage. The government has also said that it will expand the 120 km long Ranbir Singh Canal in Jammu to utilise the waters of the Chenab River for the Jammu district.

The National Hydropower Corporation (NHPC) floated a tender for planning, design, and engineering works for the execution of the project located near Sidhu village in Ramban district on June 30 and has invited bids on International Competitive Bidding (ICB). The bid will open on September 3 and close on September 10 this year. As per the tender, the project is likely to be completed in two phases in 113 months (9.42 years) at an estimated cost of Rs 209.80 crore.

This decision has been welcomed by the ruling party (National Conference) legislator (Ramban) Arjun Singh Raju. Raju thanked Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the power ministry portfolio, for the “dream project for Ramban, which will soon come into reality”.

Last week, Omar conducted a comprehensive review of major hydro and solar power projects across Jammu and Kashmir, including the 1856 MW Sawalkote, with a sharp focus on accelerating execution timelines and resolving bottlenecks.”

Sawalkote Project

As per the project details, which lie with ETV Bharat, a dam of 192.5 meters height with a water storage capacity of 23.84 million cubic meters will be built. Two horseshoe tunnels with a diameter of 12.5 meters and each 200 meters long, and one circular tunnel with 10.8 meters diameter and 200 meters long will be constructed to run the project, along with two underground power houses 218 meters and 64 meters long.

The project was conceived in 1985 but could not be executed. The project faced a delay and was then returned to Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) in 1997. The PDC spent Rs 430 crore on enabling infrastructure. After years of delays and negotiations, the JKPDC and NHPC finally signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in January 2021 for the implementation of the project on the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) model for 40 years. As per the legal agreement, the NHPC will reimburse the past expenditure of Rs 430 Cr to PDC.

What will Jammu and Kashmir achieve?

Under BOOT agreement, the NHPC will design, build, finance, own and operate the project for a specified period of time and then transfer it to the PDC. The JK government will get 12% free power and 1% local area development fund under the model. However, JK will get no Return on Equity. Post signing of the agreement in 2021, the NHPC has completed pre-construction works like access tunnel, bridges, and access roads to commence the main project.

The Jammu and Kashmir government will not get any water usage charges from the NHPC, which will exploit the waters of the Chenab River. “The Union Power Minister in June this year emphasised the strategic importance of the Sawalkote project and requested for waiver of water usage charges (WUC) for the entire project duration to ensure economic viability,” official sources said.

The JK government had also thought about running the project in a joint venture (JV) with NHPC, but given the uncertainty of huge money, the government gave up the JV idea. Official sources said if the project was conceived in a joint venture with the NHPC, it would require an equity infusion of Rs 3,800 crore by J&K within 1 to 2 years, which would have further delayed the project execution. “So the BOOT model was negotiated to complete the project,” sources said.

Pahalgam attack and IWT Suspension

After the Pahalgam attack in which 25 tourists and a local horseman were killed, India said it has put in abeyance the IWT and will expedite the planning and construction of power projects as it no longer needed permission and clearance from Pakistan and the Indus Water Commission. As per the treaty, before commencing dams and other power projects, both India and Pakistan needed each other’s consent before starting any hydro-projects on the six rivers–Beas, Satluj, Ravi, Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. The IWT, which was brokered by the World Bank in 1960 between India and Pakistan, has granted usage rights to India on Beas, Satluj and Ravi, while Pakistan has usage rights on Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab–all three flowing through Jammu and Kashmir.

In the press conference in Srinagar, Khattar said India will expedite the power projects on the river systems. "Without their (Pakistan) approval, we could not carry out any work. Now we don't need their (Pakistan) consent or approval”.

Environmental Costs and Displacement of Villagers

This massive project not only entails environmental costs on the local forests and ecology, but also leads to the displacement of residents of more than 629 families, comprising more than 4400 individuals who are affected. The project is being constructed on the Chenab River and the forest divisions of Ramban, Batote, Mahore and Udhampur of Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur Districts of Jammu and Kashmir get affected by its construction.

As per the project details, it will require 1099 hectares of land, out of which 600 hectares are forest land. About 900 hectares of land will be submerged under the dam for water storage. Of this, 160 hectares are cultivable land and 140 hectares are uncultivable and 600 hectares are forest land.

Before the bid by the NHPC, which operates several power projects in Jammu and Kashmir, the Forest Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had approved the transfer of 847.17 hectares of forest land in Ramban, Udhampur, Doda districts, where the project’s infrastructure will be built.

As per the approval, more than 2.2 lakh trees are likely to be axed for the project, although the government has proposed compensatory afforestation over 2115.878 hectares of degraded forest land in the same area. The Jammu and Kashmir government will approve environmental clearance and, mining plan for a quarry site of 12.001 hectares.

Tahir Mushtaq, a local journalist from Ramban, who has reported the displacement of the residents, said around 26 villages are being displaced and rehabilitated by the large dam construction. He told ETV Bharat that the locals are demanding proper rehabilitation and compensation of their land, but they fear a complete loss of their social and cultural disruption.

Former legislator of Ramban, Neelam Langeh, and a BJP leader told ETV Bharat that he is aware of the displacement and environmental issues. “I will take up these issues with the Deputy Commissioner Ramban and Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Jitender Singh,” Langeh said. Dr Jitender Singh is also the Member of Parliament from the Udhampur-Doda parliament constituency, in which Ramban also falls.

Raju, the legislator, told ETV Bharat it is among the biggest hydro-power projects in the country, which will generate employment for Ramban. He said that some villages have been entirely displaced since 1996, and the government has already rehabilitated many and paid adequate compensation to landowners. “I am keenly following the rehabilitation and compensation for the residents of my constituency,” he said.