KSEB’s Pallivasal Hydro Project yet to take off.

During the last eleven years, the Pallivasal extension scheme, a 60 MW hydroelectric project of KSEB had been dragging on without any end in sight.Meanwhile, the State has been spending crores of rupees, purchasing electricity from outside, for making up the power deficit of 60 Million units per day. A lot of mediacoverage followed, many questions were raised from many quarters, Governments changed, but till today the project work is not restarted. What is plaguing the Pallivasal project, a serious search is done to unravel this mysterious project near Munnar.

The initial survey and investigation of the Pallivasal project had started as early as in the year 2000. It went on for many years and the DPR and Tender documents were prepared taking five long years. Finally, the tender was floated for bidding, by the year 2005. In 2007, that the project was awarded to the Mumbai based Essar group. Essar had formed a consortium with the Dong Fang Electric Corporation of China for supplying the Powerhouse machinery, and with the Coastal Projects of Hyderabad for carrying out the Tunnelling work.

The initial contract was for four years which means, by 01.03.2011, the Project must have been completed, commissioned and handed over to the Client.

A delay of seven years has already occurred, but till today there is no visible activity at the site in Pallivasal since it stopped in 2014. A questionnaire is framed to make a long story short and to assist the decision makers, including the Minister of Electricity to understand the ground realities.

THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS