In a landmark development for Sikkim, the 1200 MW Teesta Stage III power project has been commissioned from Friday.
While announcing Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling said, “We are no more a consumer state, rather we have moved on to being a producer state.” He further mentioned that Sikkim has always moved forward into pro-growth development and the basic focus has always been qualitative development. “This historic day will make our state self reliant in power as well as revenue generation,” he stated. CM also added that Sikkim started on the industrial revolution late but it has still forged its way forward and from the beginning the focus has always been on the power sector. “In such a short span of time of 35 years, this Hydro Electric Project will belong to Sikkim 100%.
Private Developer Teesta Urja is the company commissioned to run the project for a lease period of 35 years on public private partnership model.
Notably, it is the second largest Hydel power project to be commissioned in India. The total project cost stands at Rs. 13,965 Crore which includes hard cost component of Rs. 7695 Crore and soft cost component of Rs. 6270 Crore. Chamling further noted that for the first 15 years the project would ensure 12% power free to the Sikkim and 15% from 16th year onwards. “From 6th August 2015, the equity shared of the state was enhanced from the existing 26% to 51%, which meant that the state held a bulk of the share.”
Source: Nagaland Post