New Delhi, Sept 11: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an outlay of Rs 12,461 crore to support the development of 31,350 MW hydropower projects to be implemented over the next eight years.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power for modification of the scheme of budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure for Hydro Electric Projects (HEP) with a total outlay of Rs 12,461 crore, an official statement said.
According to the statement, the scheme will be implemented from FY2024-25 to FY2031-32.
The limit of the budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure has been rationalised to Rs 1 crore per MW for projects up to 200 MW capacity and Rs 200 crore plus Rs 0.75 crore per MW for projects above 200 MW capacity.
For exceptional cases the limit of budgetary support may go up to Rs 1.5 crore/MW provided sufficient justification exists.
The scheme has a total outlay of Rs 12,461 crore for cumulative generation capacity of about 31,350 MW to be implemented from FY 2024-25 to FY 2031-32, the statement said.
The scheme will be applicable to all hydro power projects of more than 25 MW capacity, including the private sector projects which have been allotted on a transparent basis.
This scheme will also be applicable to all pumped storage projects (PSPs) including captive/merchant PSPs, provided the project has been allotted on a transparent basis.
A cumulative PSP capacity of about 15,000 MW would be supported under the scheme.
The projects whose Letter of Award of first major package is issued up to June 30, 2028 would be considered under this scheme.
The statement said that the move would widen the ambit of the budgetary support for cost of enabling infrastructure by including four more items apart from construction of roads and bridges.
These four items include the cost incurred for the construction of transmission line from power house to the nearest pooling point including upgradation of pooling substation of state/central transmission utility, ropeways, railway siding, and communication infrastructure.
The strengthening of existing roads/bridges leading to the project will also be eligible for central assistance under this scheme.
The budgetary support for cost of enabling infrastructure will be provided after appraisal of the cost of enabling infrastructure by the DIB/PIB and approval of the competent authority as per extant guidelines.
The government has been taking several policy initiatives to address the issues impeding hydro power development, viz., remote locations, hilly areas, lack of infrastructure etc.
To promote the hydro power sector and to make it more viable, the Cabinet in March 2019, approved measures, namely declaring large hydro power projects as renewable energy sources, Hydro Power Purchase Obligations (HPOs), tariff rationalization measures through escalating tariff, budgetary support for flood moderation in storage HEP (Hydro Electric Projects) and budgetary support for the cost of enabling infrastructure, i.e., construction of roads and bridges.
For the faster development of hydro electric projects and improvement of infrastructure in the remote project locations, the modifications have been made in the earlier scheme.
This revised scheme would help in faster development of hydro electric projects, improve infrastructure in the remote and hilly project locations and provide large number of direct employment to the local people along with indirect employment/ entrepreneurial opportunities through transportation, tourism, and small-scale business.
Besides, it would encourage fresh investments into hydro power sector and incentivise timely completion of new projects.
The Union Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Department of Rural Development for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-IV during financial year 2024-25 to 2028-29.
The financial assistance is to be provided for the construction of 62,500 km road for providing new connectivity to eligible 25,000 unconnected habitations and construction and upgradation of bridges on the new connectivity roads, an official statement said.
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-IV (PMGSY-IV) has been launched for financial year 2024-25 to 2028-29 with a total outlay of Rs 70,125 crore, of which the central share is Rs 49,087.50 crore and state share is Rs 21,037.50 crore.
Under this scheme, 25,000 unconnected habitations of population size of over 500 in plains and over 250 in Northeast and hill states, Union Territories and special category areas and over 100 in Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts according to Census 2011 will be covered.
All-weather roads measuring 62,500 km will be provided to unconnected habitations. The construction of required bridges along the alignment of the all-weather road will also be provided, the statement said.
The all-weather roads will play the role of catalysts for the required socio-economic development and transformation of the remote rural areas, it added.
“While connecting habitations, the nearby government educational, health, market and growth centres will be connected, as far as feasible, with the all-weather roads for the benefit of the local people,” it said.
PMGSY-IV will incorporate international benchmarks and best practices under road constructions such as cold mix technology and waste plastic, panelled cement concrete, cell filled concrete, full depth reclamation, use of construction waste and other wastes such as fly ash and steel slag.
PMGSY-IV road alignment planning will be undertaken through the PM Gati Shakti portal. The planning tool on PM Gati Shakti portal will also assist in detail project report (DPR) preparation.
The Union Cabinet also approved “Mission Mausam” on Wednesday to enhance India’s ability to predict and respond to extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change.
The mission, with a budget of Rs 2,000 crore over two years, will be primarily implemented by three key institutions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) — the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting.
These will be supported by other MoES bodies, such as the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.
The mission will focus on improving observations and understanding to deliver highly-accurate and timely weather and climate information across temporal and spatial scales. This includes information on monsoon, air quality, extreme weather events, cyclones and weather interventions for managing fog, hail and rain.
Critical elements of “Mission Mausam” include the deployment of next-generation radars and satellite systems with advanced sensors, high-performance supercomputers, the development of enhanced Earth system models and a GIS-based automated decision support system for real-time data sharing, the Union Cabinet said in a statement.
The mission will benefit multiple sectors, including agriculture, disaster management, defence, aviation, energy, water resources and tourism. It will also improve decision-making in areas like urban planning, transportation and environmental monitoring.
The multi-faceted and transformative initiative will “tremendously boost India’s weather and climate-related science, research and services”, the Union Cabinet said.
It will equip stakeholders, including citizens and last-mile users, to better tackle extreme weather events and climate-change impacts. The programme will help broaden capacity and resilience across communities, sectors and ecosystems in the long run, it said.
As part of “Mission Mausam”, India will exponentially expand research and development, and capacity in atmospheric sciences, especially weather surveillance, modelling, forecasting and management.
By integrating advanced observation systems, high-performance computing and cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, “Mission Mausam” will set a new benchmark for predicting weather with high precision, the statement said.
