The state’s current peak power demand is 120MW but it can only manage to get 55 to 60MW each day.
Reports from the electricity department of Mizoram stated that construction in the Tuirial project had currently gathered pace as Patel Engineering Limited were able to finish building two diversion tunnels of the reservoir, each 782 metres long, by its set deadline early this month.
The contract was bagged by Shillong-based North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (Neepco), which outsourced some of its jobs to firms like Patel Engineering, which already has some work exposure here.
Though this Rs 359-crore project was planned in 1995 to boost prospects of power generation in Mizoram and its foundation stone was laid by former Union minister Kabindra Purakasyatha in September 1996, construction suddenly came to a halt during the tenure of the MNF government following a controversy over payment of compensation to land-losers for this project site in 2003.
The credit for revival of this project goes to chief minister Lalthanhawla, who effectively pulled the strings in New Delhi and was able to get this hydel project revived in April last year.
However, sources in the electricity department in Aizawl said delay in commissioning the project by at least eight years had increased the total cost to a whopping Rs 913 crore, which, however, will be borne by the Centre.
The project envisages the construction of a 77-metre high earthen dam across the river Tuirial, a tributary of the Barak. It will have two turbines, each capable of churning out 30MW of power.
The state government has also decided to take up the long-pending 210MW Tuivai hydel project in Aizawl district.
Sources added that this major project, comprising three units of 70MW each, will cost about Rs 2,000 crore.
Three other hydel projects are also in the pipeline.