By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The commercial operation of the first unit of the much-awaited Myntdu-Leshka Hydel project will officially commence from this month.
Informing this here on Wednesday, the State Chief Secretary WMS Pariat said each of the three units would generate 42 mega watts of power and the total generation would be upto 126 MWs.
When asked about formal inauguration of the project, Pariat, who is also the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL), said, “the Government is yet to decide on this.”
“We are thinking whether to inaugurate this project with the first unit or wait for the completion of all the three units,” he said.
The project was originally scheduled for inauguration in December, 2009.
Equipment inside the power house and tunnel were severely damaged due to overflow of water from the dam on October 8, 2009.
In May 2010, rainfall destroyed equipment with water overflowing from the Lynriang allegedly due to encroachment of the third unit of the project into the river bed.
‘No crack in Umiam dam’: Pariat, meanwhile, ruled the possibilities of superficial cracks in Umiam dam.
“The Government had asked IIT-Roorkee, a top organisation in the country on hydel structures, to carry out a detailed study on the condition of the dam,” Pariat said.
He said IIT-Roorkee in its report maintained that the structures of the dam were in very good condition.
Pariat also maintained that the question of superficial cracks in the main dam did not arise at all and added “the cracks must have developed only on the external part and platform of the structure which requires only little bit of maintenance.”
On the life span of the dam, the Chief Secretary said, “the structures of the dam do not have any life span.”
“But the fear is more on the life of the reservoir which is facing threat from silt going down to the lake everyday,” Pariat said.
Earlier, Opposition leader Conrad K. Sangma had stated “superficial cracks” had developed in the dam constructed over the Umiam reservoir (Barapani) where electricity is generated from for the state.
