1 week Ago
New Delhi: India plans to speed up hydropower projects on rivers flowing into Pakistan after it suspended the Indus Water Treaty last week, two people aware of the matter said. The Centre is also exploring the possibility of building new projects on the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, and their tributaries. The Indus Water Treaty, which was signed in 1960 through the mediation of the World Bank for sharing of river waters between India and Pakistan, was suspended by India following the killing of 26 people by terrorists in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on 22 April.
The treaty had capped India's storage capacity on these rivers at 3.6 maf (million acre feet). With the treaty now suspended, India can build hydropower dams and reservoirs for flood control on them.
It is estimated that average annual runoff of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab is 136 maf, of which 40% (around 54 maf) comes from the Indian catchment. State-run NHPC will expedite the commissioning of Sawalkot (1,856 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Ratle (850 MW) Bursar (800 MW), Kiru (624 MW), Kirthai 1 and 2 (1,320 MW) hydropower projects, among others, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. Also read | “A few projects were taken up a few years ago, but they did not gain pace or were held up," one of the persons said.
“Now, the work on those projects will gain momentum. Ratle is under construction, and Sawalkot is one of the key projects that would see progress." “Currently, the matter is in discussion stage and we are working on the modalities," said an official with Jal Shakti department, irrigation & flood control in the state government on the condition of anonymity.
The detailed project report for Sawalkot project on the Chenab river is complete, but work is yet to begin, and construction of the Ratle project (on Chenab) is underway, which would require around two years for commissioning. Likewise, the detailed project report (DPR) for Kirthai 2 on the Chenab is in the works, while that of Kirthai 1 is yet to be made. The Kiru hydro electric project on the Chenab river is in advanced stages of completion, and is expected to take a year to finish, the second person cited above said.
Read this | Proposed projects that have been objected to by Pakistan till date include Salal, Uri-I, Dulhasti, Baglihar, Uri-II, Kishanganga, Pakal Dul, Ratle, and Kiru, among others. Queries mailed to the Union power ministry, Jal Shakti ministry and NHPC remained unanswered till press time. “With the current infrastructure, what India can immediately do is not share data in terms of water flow to Pakistan and hold for some time or even turn on the water flow without informing Pakistan," said Abhay Kumar Singh, former chairman and managing director of NHPC Ltd.
“The decision to put the treaty in abeyance has therefore raised concerns in Pakistan as it would keep them uncertain of the water flow." The move to suspend the treaty is expected to hit the eastern neighbour hard, with an estimated 80% of its agriculture dependent on water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. To be sure, building such projects in the rugged terrain of J&K has its own set of challenges apart from the Indus Water Treaty.
A former member of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) said on condition of anonymity that surprises thrown up by the terrain and the topography tend to hamper the projects sometimes. Also read | “Given that the mountains there are largely young, there are chances of landslides or landslips if tunnels are constructed," this person said. “However, if proper investigation is done and shear zones and fracture zones (which are more vulnerable) are taken care of, then the projects can be successful.
" Communications with Pakistan Even before the Indus Water Treaty was suspended, India had written to Pakistan twice in the past two years, seeking modification of the treaty. After the decision to suspend the treaty was taken, Debashree Mukherjee, secretary at the Union ministry of Jal Shakti, informed her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza, of the move. In the letter dated 24 April to the ministry of water resources of Pakistan, Mukherjee referred to the previous notices from India seeking modification and attributed the proposed changes to factors including the need for renewable energy, in this case hydro power.
The letter noted that previous communications cited fundamental changes in the circumstances that have taken place since the treaty was executed that require a reassessment of obligations under the treaty. “These changes include significantly altered population demographics, the need to accelerate the development of clean energy, and other changes in the assumptions underlying the sharing of waters under the Treaty," the letter said. The hydro projects India has identified potential hydro power capacity of 18,217 MW or 18.
21 GW on the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, of which the latter alone has potential for 14GW. The operational projects in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) that fall under the purview of the treaty include Kishanganga, Uri I and II, Dulhasti, Baglihar and Sewa projects with a cumulative capacity of over 3.3GW.
Detailed project reports or preliminary feasibility reports have been prepared for another 12.25GW capacity of hydro projects on these rivers, with another 2.56 GW under construction.
Read this | “With the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, India would now be able to take up projects which have been planned for a long time but Pakistan has objected to," said NHPC’s former chairman Singh, while further pointing out that there is no large storage capacity as of now as the treaty did not permit it. The storage problem While there is no operational capacity for storage currently, the Pakal Dul project on the Marusudar river, a tributary of the Chenab, which is under construction, has a planned storage capacity of 0.09 maf.
Then, cumulative capacity of 2.23 maf has been identified for the Pakal Dul, Bursar, Wardwan Bursar, Gyspa, and Ratle projects. Singh added that storage capacities can now be created that would add to both hydro power abilities and flood mitigation.
Singh further said that reservoir capacity of the Salal project, which has significantly reduced due to prohibition on desilting through slushing under the treaty, can also be now revived as slushing of the silt can be done without intimating Pakistan. He also said that for the planned projects that are mostly run-of-the-river projects, planning new large reservoirs would require new DPRs, thereby adding a few more years to the process. Slow progress Meanwhile, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General tabled in the Parliament in March 2023 raised concerns over the slow progress of hydro power projects in J&K.
It noted that the lack of ease of doing business for independent power producers (IPPs) should be addressed and the state hydro power policy 2011 needed to be revisited. And read | It also said that the state government and concerned government agencies need to ensure feasible identification of sites, prompt DPR finalization, handholding of IPPs in land acquisition and statutory clearances as well as obtaining of finances, and helping IPPs come forward for taking up projects. “In respect of EPC projects developed by JKPDC (Jammu & Kashmir Power Development Corporation), completion of projects in a time-bound manner may be ensured apart from installation of power evacuation system before commissioning of projects," it had said.
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