The two states had agreed to construct the Kishau project as a joint venture. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 8,000-10,000 crore. "We can only say that 90 per cent of the issues related to Kishau project between Uttarakhand and Himachal have already been resolved. Now only 10 per cent of the remaining issues would be discussed at the next high level meeting between the two states," said a senior government official. The dates of the talks are yet to be announced.
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna might travel to Shimla to hold talks with his Himachal counterpart, Virbhadra Singh, the official added.
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Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh had agreed to work closely on the project in the previous meeting which was held at Shimla between former Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Alok Kumar Jain and Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy.
A special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been set up by the two states for the purpose of the project.
After scores of hydel projects were either scrapped or suspended for review, the Uttarakhand government had been focusing on uncontroversial projects such as the Kishau and 420 Mw Lakhwar-Vyasi projects.
The Kishau project has been proposed on the river Tons, a tributary of Yamuna. The height of the dam will be 236 meter and the project would provide irrigation water to nearly five states, which include Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The project is likely to irrigate 97,076 hectares of land and provides 619 million cubic meters of drinking water.
The official claimed the dam would also help in regulating water supply to all those projects which are on the downstream of the Tons river which will increase the capacity of these projects.
Himachal Pradesh now wants its share in the increase capacity of the downstream projects in addition to 50 percent share in the Kishau project. "This has become a contentious issue between the two states which needs to be resolved," the official added.