India going ahead with Tipai dam
Friday, 28 May 2010
NEW DELHI, May 27 (bdnews24.com): India’s government-owned NHPC Limited is going ahead with its controversial 1500 MW Tipaimukh Hydro-Electric Project in the country’s north-eastern state of Manipur, despite growing concern in Bangladesh about its adverse impact on the country.
S K Garg, chairman and managing director of the NHPC, said the public sector undertaking had recently floated a joint-venture company with the state government of Manipur and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited for implementation of the Tipaimukh project.
The NHPC Ltd – formerly known as National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited – will hold 69 percent share in the joint venture, while the Manipur government and SJVN Ltd will have 5 percent and 26 percent stakes respectively.
Garg said the NHPC, SJVN and the Manipur government signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the joint venture on April 28.
The move is almost certain to cause fresh anxiety in Bangladesh, especially after Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh assured her Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina during her visit to New Delhi in January this year that “India would not take any steps on the Tipaimukh Project that would adversely impact Bangladesh”.
Garg said New Delhi had conveyed to Dhaka that the project would help mitigate floods in Bangladesh.
“We have conveyed (to Dhaka) that they (Bangladesh) would be better off with the project as it would lessen flood in downstream area,” he told journalists during the annual news conference of the NHPC Ltd here.
Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, the Bangladeshi foreign secretary, however, would not provide any information on this project, which has generated a lot of controversy in Bangladesh.
He told bdnews24.com on Thursday: “I can neither confirm, nor negate.”
Quayes said he had not received any such communication from New Delhi.
A senior foreign ministry official, who requested anonymity so that he can talk freely on the issue, said the Indian position of no-harm is nothing new. “They always give such assurances.”
“It is nothing out of the ordinary really.”
Indian officials had reaffirmed that position at the last meeting the Joint Rivers Commission in March this year, he added.
“But we have not received any formal communication from India regarding Tipaimukh.”
Indian officials argue that the NHPC’s move on the Tipaimukh Project does not go against Singh’s assurance to Hasina.
“We believe that this project will not harm Bangladesh. The prime minister promised that India would not do anything that harms the interests of Bangladesh. And we still stick to that,” said a senior Indian official, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
S K Garg, chairman and managing director of the NHPC, said the public sector undertaking had recently floated a joint-venture company with the state government of Manipur and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited for implementation of the Tipaimukh project.
The NHPC Ltd – formerly known as National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited – will hold 69 percent share in the joint venture, while the Manipur government and SJVN Ltd will have 5 percent and 26 percent stakes respectively.
Garg said the NHPC, SJVN and the Manipur government signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the joint venture on April 28.
The move is almost certain to cause fresh anxiety in Bangladesh, especially after Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh assured her Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina during her visit to New Delhi in January this year that “India would not take any steps on the Tipaimukh Project that would adversely impact Bangladesh”.
Garg said New Delhi had conveyed to Dhaka that the project would help mitigate floods in Bangladesh.
“We have conveyed (to Dhaka) that they (Bangladesh) would be better off with the project as it would lessen flood in downstream area,” he told journalists during the annual news conference of the NHPC Ltd here.
Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, the Bangladeshi foreign secretary, however, would not provide any information on this project, which has generated a lot of controversy in Bangladesh.
He told bdnews24.com on Thursday: “I can neither confirm, nor negate.”
Quayes said he had not received any such communication from New Delhi.
A senior foreign ministry official, who requested anonymity so that he can talk freely on the issue, said the Indian position of no-harm is nothing new. “They always give such assurances.”
“It is nothing out of the ordinary really.”
Indian officials had reaffirmed that position at the last meeting the Joint Rivers Commission in March this year, he added.
“But we have not received any formal communication from India regarding Tipaimukh.”
Indian officials argue that the NHPC’s move on the Tipaimukh Project does not go against Singh’s assurance to Hasina.
“We believe that this project will not harm Bangladesh. The prime minister promised that India would not do anything that harms the interests of Bangladesh. And we still stick to that,” said a senior Indian official, who did not want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.