SHILLONG: As the citizens of Meghalaya continue to bear the brunt of load shedding, the upcoming year of 2015 is expected to bring some sort of relief for the people as the New Umtrew Hydro Power project is likely to be commissioned in March, 2015.
MeECL senior engineer Elias Lyngdoh on Tuesday informed The Shillong Times that the physical progress of the project is 65 per cent and they have targeted March, 2015 for completion of the project.
“Construction is going on in full swing,” he said.
The project once commissioned would add 40 MW of power to the State’s kitty which is facing acute shortage of power leading to load shedding.
The estimated budget of the project is around Rs 460 crore and a new dam has also been constructed over the Umtrew river in Byrnihat in addition to the existing old dam.
According to Lyngdoh, the most unique feature of the project is that is can produce good amount of power even during the lean season since it has a greater catchment area and even the water quality is suitable for the project.
A lot is being expected from the Umtrew power project since it has been a trend that most of the hydro projects in the country and even in Meghalaya produce very less amount of power during the lean seasons.
Construction work, which is being implemented by MeECL, began in 2007.
In addition, the construction of the 22.5 mw Ganol hydro power project in Garo Hills is also scheduled to start this year.
Lyngdoh informed that the department is closing the files and the project would be executed by MeECL, funds for which have been made available to the MeECL through NLCPR fund.