DEHRADUN : With the Rs 4,000-crore Lakhwar multi-purpose hydel project getting approval from Union water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharati, on the request of Haryana chief minister recently, Uttarakhand is set to float tenders for creating related infrastructure.

S N Verma, managing director of Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam, told TOI, "All investments regarding Lakhwar project were stuck with the Union water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation ministry. Now, after the clearance, we will be able to float tenders for installation of related infrastructure. If everything goes well, it would take three years to commission the project."

Haryana fervently pursued the matter as the state is going to get 48 per cent of the water share for irrigation, more than the remaining stakeholder states, namely, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pardesh and Rajasthan. Verma said, "After Haryana, UP will get 33 per cent of the water. Delhi is the only state which will get 6 per cent water for drinking purpose. Uttarakhand will get 12 per cent water for irrigation. Since the state is replete with rivers, we did not ask for much water share."

"The entire 300 MW to be generated from the power plant will be owned by Uttarakhand. The dam will be constructed across the river Yamuna in Vikasnagar tehsil of Dehradun district," Verma said.

Initially, Lakhwar and Vyasi (120MW) projects were conceived together and six states were made stakeholders. Later Vyasi project was separated from Lakhwar. The Lakhwar project was given to the irrigation department to lay the infrastructure and operate it in 1986. However, later it was handed over to the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation but again it hit a financial roadblock. None of the beneficiary states were ready to bear the construction cost until 2009 when the central government came forward to bear 90 per cent of the cost and the rest 10 per cent to be shared by the beneficiaries.