CM lays foundation stone of 1200 MW Teesta Stage III power project in Chungthang

“Panan project will not be scrapped”

NIRMAL MANGAR CHUNGTHANG, June 15: The Chief Minister, Pawan Chamling, has welcomed and appreciated the decision of the Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) to withdraw their indefinite hunger strike. He was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the 1200 MW Teesta Stage III hydro electric project here today. While stating that the main aim of the State Government is to bring about economic and infrastructure development through hydel power plants, the Chief Minister said the Panan hydro electric power project in Dzongu would not be scrapped. “The other four projects located in Dzongu, which was supposed to be implemented, stands scrapped,” he said. Speaking on the Teesta Stage III project, Mr. Chamling said that a two-storied building would be constructed for those people whose land has been acquired by the government for the power project here. “The project on completion would supply 12% free power to the State Government for the first 15 years and 15% free thereafter. Full ownership would be transferred to the government after 35 years, which would significantly contribute towards GDP revenues and overall development of the State,” Mr. Chamling said. He further said that the power project will bring in economic boom for the people. The Chief Minister also urged the promoters of Teesta Stage III to cater to all the demands of the local people, which include the construction of a Community Center, maintenance of roads, school repair, construction of monasteries, drinking water supply and the construction a statue of Guru Padmasambhava. Stressing on the point that stopping on-going work at hydel projects even for a day means a loss Rs 500 crore, the CM said that the local people would get 80 % job placement facilities as per the guidelines given by the State Government. On the occasion, Mr. Chamling also made an announcement to rename Lingdong Secondary School as Sonam Chyoda Secondary school in memory of the late MLA from Dzongu. The 1200 MW project has been awarded to the consortium of promoters led by M/s Athena Projects Private Limited under the joint sector with the State Government under BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) basis for a period of 35 years. Athena Projects in turn formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)-Teesta Urja Ltd- for the implementation for this project. The Teesta III is the largest power project in the State. Earlier, the Managing Director of Teesta Urja Private Limited, YN Apparao while placing the technical detail of the project. Stating the project as totally environment friendly, Mr. Apparao said there would be two underground desilting cambers of size 285X16mX21.2m each to exclude silt particles above 0.20 mm. “There will be 60m high concerted faced rock fill dam, two numbers, 11.0 m finished diameter tunnels, one intake tunnel, two desiliting chambers, headrace tunnel, two pressure shafts, underground power house complex, tailrace tunnel and pothead yard,” he informed. The project has received all the statutory clearances from the concerned authorities, he added. At the end of the programme, the people of North Sikkim felicitated the Chief Minister. The Area MLA, Lachen Mangshila, Hissey Lachungpa and MLA, Dzongu, Sonam Gyatso Lepcha also addressed the gathering. http://www.sikkimexpress.com/otherstories.htm