NCC’s Norwegian subsidiary, NCC International, has signed an agreement with Jammu & Kashmir Power Development Corporation for the engineering, purchasing and construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Sawalkot, northern India.
The total investment will be around $700M, with underground work accounting for about 40% of this figure. NCC will undertake the project in cooperation with Hochtief of Germany.
The contract depends on an agreed financing solution being found and favourable results of a complete environmental impact assessment. The intention is for the project to be financed through export credits from Norway and Germany, and through loans from international and Indian banks.
The power plant will be owned and operated by the Jammu & Kashmir Power Development Corporation.
NCC designed the project on behalf of the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir. It includes a 198m high dam and an underground power plant (to be constructed in dolomite rock) situated on the River Chenab in the Sawalkot mountains, around 120km north west of the city of Jammu.
The construction sequence will involve laying an access road and constructing a bridge over the river, which will take one and a half years. A 2,300m long access tunnel will then be constructed to the power station and the dam site on one side of the river and a second, 600m long, access tunnel driven to the diversion tunnel on the other side of the river. Undergound construction will use drill and blast.
The power station will be housed in a 20m wide x 92m long cavern with a maximum height of 43m, and will have a capacity of 600MW. The outlet tunnel will be concrete lined. It will be 2,260m long with a cross-section of 100m².
Around 4,000 workers will be employed on the project whose estimated construction period is 6.5 years.
An initial study by the Norwegian consulting firm Norplan indicates that the environmental impact of the project will be very limited. A complete environmental impact assessment will now be made.
Two other power plants are already under construction along the River Chenab, which is regulated by a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan.
Related Files
Power plant and tunnel system.
