The Advisory Group on power projects has asked the power ministry to take up development of road infrastructure with the Himachal Pradesh government to facilitate construction of power projects in the State. In a meeting taken by the Advisory Group last month, it was observed that power projects totalling to 3000 MW are affected by lack of road availability in Himachal Pradesh.
In a communication to the power ministry, the Group members stated that several roads and bridges in the State need to be widened and strengthened as they are not suitable for single lane travel at long stretches for carrying equipment for hydro projects.
The Group members asked the ministry to take up the implementation of Border Road Organization’s (BRO) Project Deepak that involves improving road connectivity between Manali-Rohtang-Koksar-Udaipar-Killar-Sansari-Tyari and Project Beacon that involves improving road connectivity between Dulabgarh and Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir, with the State government.
Under Project Deepak, the construction of 8.6 Rohtang Tunnel is expected to be completed by 2016. Beyond the north portal of the tunnel, around 200-km of road through Keylong-Udaipur-Killar and up to Sansari Nallah is to be upgraded. In parallel, under project Beacon, 130-km of road is to be upgraded.
The Group Members stated that these two BRO projects are of critical importance for achieving timely and on schedule development of hydro projects located in Chenab river valley. Accordingly, they suggested power ministry to take up the issue of implementation of the projects with the State government and other agencies to ease the operational difficulty being faced by the hydro projects under construction in the State
