The $2.6 billion hydroelectric project comes in the wake of New Delhi suspending a water treaty with Islamabad
India plans to build what will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the NDTV website reported on Thursday.
The 1856-Megawatt (MW) Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab River is expected to cost about $2.6 billion and will be built without seeking clearance from Pakistan, a condition that exists in the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) that India suspended in April.
Signed in 1960 under the auspices of the World Bank, the IWT governs the sharing of the Indus River system between the two regional archrivals. “It will be held in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism,” India Foreign Minister Vikram Misri said immediately after the terror attack in April in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people.
Islamabad, which India blamed for the attack, has denied having any role in it.
While India possesses limited rights to use water from the Chenab for irrigation under the IWT, it is permitted to develop run-of-the-river projects on the river, provided that the design and height of such undertakings are cleared by the Indus Water Commission.
The treaty entailed restrictions on storing water by way of the construction of big dams on major rivers, thus restricting the scope of hydro power generation.
India’s state-backed National Hydroelectric Power Corporation has initiated the tendering process for the Sawalkote project and has formally invited bids for the project, NDTV added.
The project was initially conceptualized in the 1980s but had been stalled for the past 40 years for various reasons, including procedural delays and objections from Pakistan over the potential impact of the dam on the flow of the Chenab River.
The project is now set to move forward with a planned two-phase construction.
Four hydroelectric projects with a total capacity of 2,026 MW have been launched in Jammu and Kashmir since 2019.
