Jammu, April 16 – A spokesman of the J&K State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC) has refuted the news report carried by a section of the press suggesting that the Baglihar Hydro Power Project would be controlled by NHPC.
Dispelling apprehensions generated by the news report, the spokesman said that the Baglihar being highly sophisticated and state of the art project, its operation and maintenance was felt to be outsourced for a limited period of time which would be also utilised for training of its own engineers and technicians as the requisite level of expertise was not available within JKSPDC and in the State Government to run such a sophisticated hydroelectric plant. He said the operation and maintenance of the whole project involves high level of technical expertise in relation to electro mechanical units, civil structures, reservoir management, fire and other safety measures.
The spokesman said that in September 2008 a technical committee of top most engineers of the JKSPDC including the Executive Director and the Chief Engineer Generation, Jammu had recommended that as the requisite level of expertise was not available within JKSPDC and in the State Government to run such a sophisticated hydroelectric plant, it would be appropriate to outsource its operation and maintenance for a limited period of time which could also be utilised for training its own engineers and technicians.
Giving details, the spokesman said that in pursuance to this recommendation of the technical committee, JKSPDC called for offers from different quarters which included M/S Precision Engg. Services, M/S Siemens, M/S JAL and NHPC. The offers, he said, were examined by a high level committee of JKPDC which was of the view that all offers except that of NHPC were incomplete in terms of their scope. He said, for example, the offer of M/s Precision Engg. Services which is a sub-contractor of Voith Siemens was only in respect of power plant maintenance. The offer from Voith Siemens was only for operation and maintenance of the electro mechanical equipment and not civil structures, reservoir etc. He said the NHPC offer was a complete offer which included operation and maintenance of electro mechanical units, civil structures, reservoir management, fire and other safety features etc.
The spokesman further said that an Apex Committee headed by the Chief Secretary and comprising of Financial Commissioner, Planning and Development, Commissioner/Secretary Finance, Commissioner/Secretary, PDD, Managing Director, JKSPDC and JKSPDC Senior Engineers felt that the NHPC offer should be guided by CERC norms on operation and maintenance which comes to Rs. 74 crore for the first year. He said within this amount, NHPC will also train all engineers and technicians of JKSPDC working for Baglihar project. The number of JKSPDC employees working for the project is going to be approximately 250, he added.
The spokesman further said that the Board of Directors met in Jammu on March 25, 2009 and decided that the Baglihar project would be made commercially operational from April 1, 2009 and the operation and maintenance contract for the project would be given to NHPC for a limited period of time. He said the recruitment process for complete staff for Baglihar project is underway.
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