NEEPCO has requested the power ministry to consider the revised cost estimates for its 600 MW Kameng hydroelectric project. The project was accorded CCEA clearance at an estimated cost of Rs.2496.90 crore, including interest during construction of Rs.249.09 crore in December 2002 at March 2004 price level with debt-equity ratio of 70 : 30. Presently, a revised cost estimate at December, 2011 price levels of Rs. 5139 crore has been submitted and is awaiting approval of the Central government.
The equity portion of the total cost is to be funded from budgetary support. Against the approved cost, the Central government has already released the entire equity amount of Rs.749.07 crore and loan of Rs.1739.68 crore has been tied up with Power Finance Corporation (PFC) by way of reimbursement of expenditure on a specific list of items which does not include expenditure on establishment and other such items.
Pending such approval, the corporation has been incurring expenditure from its internal resources on all such items which are not reimbursable by the PFC. In addition, until approval of the RCE is received, both the Central government and PFC are unlikely to release any funds for expenditure incurred beyond the existing approved cost estimate. In view of this, NEEPCO has requested for consideration of the revised estimates at the earliest.
Kameng hydroelectric project is a run of a river scheme in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The project was initially scheduled to be commissioned by December 2009. However, various setbacks at the project sites and slow progress in project development have pushed back the schedule for the commissioning of the project by June 2016.
