SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has canceled the allotment of 26 power projects of private developers, who were found not to be serious about project construction and they did not sign the SIA under One Time Amnesty Scheme.
This decision has come as a major setback for hydro power development in the private sector in Himachal.
A spokesperson of the State Government said here today that the State Government in its Cabinet meeting revived One-Time Amnesty Scheme launched for pending hydro electric projects in the State. The state Cabinet met on Monday under chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The hydro electric project developers, who have not signed Connection Agreement and Long Term Open Access Agreement or Power Purchase Agreement have been given additional time till 31st July , 2022.
If for any reason the project developer is unable to sign the Connection Agreement and Long Term Open Access Agreement or Power Purchase Agreement by 31st July, 2022 and is not responsible for the delay, the Administrative Department shall be authorized to grant him additional time.
Cabinet gave One Time Amnesty to six projects which were left out of the One-Time Concession Scheme.
224 Power Developers Get One Time Amnesty
As a matter of fact, State Government had decided to provide One Time Amnesty to the hydro project developers in November, 2020 in order to expedite the construction of the pending hydroelectric projects, which could not do so due to various reasons.
Under this scheme, 224 projects were eligible, out of which the milestones of 191 projects were rescheduled by signing Supplementary Implementation Agreements (SIA).
As per SIA, the projects were to sign a Connection Agreement and Long Term Open Access Agreement or Power Purchase Agreement. Due to various reasons some projects could not sign the Connection Agreement and Long Term Open Access Agreement or Power Purchase Agreement on time.
As many as 26 power developers did not sign the SIA and hence Cabinet cancelled their allotment on Monday.
