Himdhara, an environment research and action group today released a report questioning the feasibility of the proposed 66 MW Dhaulasidh Hydro-electric Project to be constructed on the Beas River. Titled ‘Big Costs, Little Gain’ the report critiques the project on the rground that the environmental, socio-economic and financial costs of the project far outweigh the benefits and that this project needs to be reviewed before further implementation.
The Dhaulasidh Hydropower project is one of the three new projects proposed on the Beas and is now posing a serious threat to the last stretch of the free flowing Beas which is already substantially depleted. These projects, located between Pandoh Dam in Mandi district and Pong dam situated at the boundary of Kangra district with Punjab, are the 141 MW Thana-Palaun, 78 MW Triveni-Mahadev and 66 MW Dhaulasidh project. Of the three the Dhaulasidh project is in advanced stage, with most of the clearances granted and the land acquisition proceedings being close to completion.
The report stresses that the project which involves the construction of a dam of 70.75 m height from the river bed is going to submerge more than 330 hectares of land out of which 252 hectare is agricultural land. “For a Run of the River project and that too of only 66 MW capacity, even 330 hectare of land is quiet high, especially if we compare it with other projects. The Dhaulasidh HEP will require 8 to 250 times more land on a per megawatt basis to generate electricity”, it said.
The extent of adverse impact on livelihood of local community of more than 700 families is quite huge in comparison to the 40 jobs created during the operational phase of the project. Considering the extent of private and common land being acquired in the 44 affected villages, especially in an area which has a thriving agriculture and livestock based economy, it was imperative that a sound rehabilitation and compensation plan with transparency about the land rates should have been announced. However, according to information provided under RTI, 2005 the fact is that no official announcement of land rates and the project rehabilitation plan has yet been made.
“In the affected villages we interviewed several people and found that most land losers were not really aware of the details of the project. In fact, most villagers said that were expecting very high rates of compensation. At some places this was expected to be at market price, and at others even three times the market price”, said the report. It also needs to be seen how the government plans to handle the matter, considering that the rates would be decided as per the ‘Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013’ – which would increase the project cost considerably. And the project is likely to face opposition if the expected rates are not given.
But the issue of costs of the project needs to be especially seen in the light of the financial viability of the project. “The initial estimated cost of the project was Rs. 497.5 crores. The techno-economic clearance to the project was granted on the basis of this figure by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). At 2012 price level the cost of the project has increased by 55% and the estimated cost of the project at present is Rs. 774.1 crores. The estimated cost of generating per mega watt of electricity is coming to around Rs. 11.72 crores which is on higher side, if compared to other projects. For instance, Seli HEP proposed in the remote Lahaul and Spiti District has a per MW cost of around 9 crores” states the report.
The report also raises the point of falling revenues from the same of electricity. According to the report, “Considering that the rate at which the state is able to sell each unit of electricity generated are drastically falling and have reached Rs.2/or Rs.3/- per unit in 2013, the benefit accruing to the government is likely to be incommensurate compared to the cost. In the DPR, the revenue from the electricity generated has been calculated using the sale price of per unit varying from Rs. 2.5 to 4.5 and that too when the project cost was only around 500 crores. At current project cost, which is only likely to increase, the project cost-benefit ratio will be highly skewed”.
Highlighting the environmental impacts of the project the report states, “The Beas River is already overloaded with number of R-O-R and dam projects without any assessment to understand the cumulative impacts of these on river health and ecology at the basin level. Again the three new proposed projects (Thana-Palaun, Triveni-Mahadev and Dhaulasidh) have been announced arbitrarily without any cumulative impact assessment. This stretch of the river flows through a water stressed area like Changar region and people are dependent on the Beas River for drinking and irrigation. This is a region very prone to landslides and such huge artificial poundage will have adverse impacts on agriculture and micro-climatic conditions. This will also adversely impact aquatic ecology, surrounding vegetation and livelihoods of people”.
Himdhara is going to submit a petition to the Central Electricity Authority and the State government along with a copy of the report demanding that the techno-economic clearance granted to the project be reviewed. “We have written several times to the Ministry of Environment asking for basin wise carrying capacity and impact studies to be done but the matter has not been addressed”, added members of the group.
A Gist of the key issues with the Dhaulasidh Hydropower Project
- The 66 MW Dhaulasidh Project and its impacts need to be seen cumulatively with the two other projects that are planned in the last free flowing stretch of the Beas river between Pandoh and Pong dams
- One of the major environmental impacts which has been overlooked completely is the wiping out of the migratory fish species like snow trout and Mahaseer in affected stretch of the river basin
- The Project will submerge a huge land mass in comparison to the electricity it will generate. The project is using more than 5 hectare of land to generate 1 megawatt of electricity which is quiet high
- The losses due to submergence of agricultural land, common land and other standing structures is quiet huge for a project with a capacity of 66 MW
- The financial viability of the project is in doubt. It clearly show that the project is a waste of public money, with huge socio-economic and environment costs with little benefits in terms of revenue and livelihoods generation
- In a context where selling prices of electricity to other state electricity boards are low, HP government is facing big problem in selling its increasing surplus of electricity to other states , to go such a financially un-viable projects is unjustifiable
