The State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (Sidcul) has put on hold its plan to set up gas-based power plants in the state.
The move comes just ten days after another state-run corporation, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with GAIL for setting up two power plants with the capacity of 350 Mw to 500 Mw for an investment of Rs 2500 crore.
“After holding talks with GAIL and other market players, Sidcul is of view that it will not be viable to go for the power-based gas plants at this time, especially since the gas which will be provided to Uttarakhand will be imported,” a top government official told Business Standard.
With the natural gas all set to reach the hill state, the government-owned Sidcul had prepared plans to set up two 300 Mw gas-based plants at Kashipur and Haridwar in collaboration with GAIL. This was the first diversification move by Sidcul, which had set up several key industrial estates in Pantnagar and Haridwar. Since the industries face power shortage in the hill-state during the lean season, Sidcul took such an initiative to provide gas-based energy to industries such as Nestle, Tata Motors and Hero Honda.
GAIL began work on these pipelines last year with construction of the 182 km-long Karanpur-Moradabad-Kashipur-Rudrapur pipeline in the first phase for a cost of Rs 250 crore. It began construction of another pipeline from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
Besides this, Sidcul has also showed interest in city-based gas distribution. With people in the hill-state facing shortage of LPG cylinders, Sidcul is also gearing up to prepare a blueprint for city-based gas distribution in places like Dehradun. However, an official added that as long as gas is not available at cheaper rates, no new proposal will be viable.
