In hydropower, PSUs are slow but sure while private players are tainted by dirty deals, greed, incompetence and incomplete projects.
Sikkim, along with many other bounties, is blessed with two beautiful, sacred and powerful rivers, the Teesta and the Rangit that are rich with the promise of hydroelectricity. The state has been trying to harness the energy of these two rivers since 1974 and the oldest project to be put on the table was the one to build a hydropower project on a site called Chungthang, in the North District of Sikkim near Dzongu, the Lepcha Reserve. The project is called the 1200 MW Teesta Stage III Hydro Electric Project and it is one the largest run-of-the-river hydropower project in the country.
It is fitting then that Teesta Stage III will be the project that will break open Sikkim’s Rs 20,000 crore hydropower scam. The scam is not limited to Teesta Urja Limited but possibly covers almost every private power project in Sikkim – 22 at last count – and involves several past and serving bureaucrats and many known and unknown businessmen.
Since 2002, there have been 30 power projects that have proposed, out of which 28 reached the stage of a MoU being signed, two were dropped at the preliminary stage after being issued a Letter of Intent. Four MoUs were cancelled by the Government of Sikkim (GoS) due to “non-compliance of terms and conditions” out of which one lucky company, Gati Infrastructures Ltd., was able to get its 71 MW Sada-Mangder HEP reinstated.
The first three MoUs were signed on 21 December 2002 with Amalgamated Transpower India Limited and cancelled shortly thereafter. The last MoU was signed last year with Pentacle Power Private Limited on 25 April.
Of the 25 existing power projects only two have been commissioned, the 60 MW Rangit III and the 510 MW Teesta V. Both projects have been built and are being operated by the public sector National Hydro Power Corporation.
Not even one private sector project is online. A status that says as much about the inertia caused by greed as it says about the fallacy of the private sector being faster, better and cleaner.
According to state government policies every power project except for the nine that were signed between January 2008 and April 2011 are behind schedule. But even these nine projects don’t escape the curse of tardiness – six have not yet obtained the preliminary ‘Techno-Economic Clearance’ that is issued by the Central Electricity Authority under the MoP. Of the other three, one is stuck for not being able to obtain Environmental Clearance and the other is “Held up due to religious sentiments and apprehensions”. Only one project seems to be on track, the 97 MW Tashiding HEP by Shiga Energy Private Limited.