The Ministry of Environment and Forest`s (MoEF) insistence on additional studies beyond extant stipulations for hydro-electric projects is likely to have an adverse impact of 30,000 MW of upcoming capacity in the country.
- Notably, the ministry has called for cumulative Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) studies, comprehensive bio-diversity impact studies along with downstream impact studies, before it could consider granting environment and forests clearance to a slew of projects.
- The completion of all these is likely to take a minimum of 3-5 years and would delay the affected hydel projects by the same amount of time. Such a scenario is a major setback for the development of hydro-electric potential of the country and the capacity addition ambitions of the power ministry.
- As it is, development of hydro electric projects is an intricate and long drawn process spanning over 3-5 years. A considerable amount of time and investment is required to be made on survey and investigation, preparation of DPR, obtaining of statutory and non statutory clearances including environment and forest clearances, concurrence by CEA and financial closure.
No comments:
Post a Comment