Earlier global tenders for power project cancelled

After one year, the project contract with Norwegian consortium is completely off, reports Arun Joshi.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government has decided to float global tenders for the two-phased 1200 MWs run of the river Sawlakote hydro-electric project in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.

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A late Wednesday evening decision after a marathon meeting of the state cabinet that lasted for nearly three and half hours nullified the earlier contract to a Norwegian Consortium in the light of serious charges levelled by ministers against the consortium.

"It has been decided that there would be now a global tenders for the project," according to a minister. He said that the cabinet decision was "unanimous" because of the charges of financial irregularities involved in the previous contract.

The project that was first conceived in 1990s has run into various scandals and charges of backroom deals. That has kept this project with estimated capacity to generate 1200 MWs of power grounded till date, despite the fact that twice the contract was allotted to a consortium.

The project's construction was first negotiated by Farooq Abdullah government in 2001 and then by the Mufti Sayeed Government in April 2003. But it was finally cleared in December 2005.

That time too, these apprehensions were voiced. But now after one year the project contract with Norwegian consortium is completely off. Now the fresh tenders will decide the fate of this Rs 7,000 crore project.