The first hydel power project owned and operated by a local body in the country, the Meenvallom mini-hydel project at Karimba, near Mannarkkad, will be inaugurated on Friday.
The project, a long-pending dream of the local community who faces frequent power outage, taps the Meenvallom waterfalls at Karimba in the Bharathapuzha river basin.
Though the trial run began in June last week, the project of the Palakkad district panchayat became fully operational only now. It will have an initial generation capacity of 3MW.
The power generated will be sold to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) as per a 2007 agreement, with the board ensuring dedicated supply in the region.
With the project set for inauguration, the panchayat wants to enhance the tariff it is set to charge from the utility.
The panchayat wants a considerable increase in tariff as it feels the existing rate is inadequate to repay loans taken from agencies such as Nabard. The tariff was fixed in 2007 at Rs.2.50 a unit for 25 years.
Panchayat president T.N. Kandamuthan said he had approached the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission to enhance the tariff to Rs.4.80 a unit.
The Rs.22 crore-project, 20 years in the making, had to brave many odds, technical and financial. The Registrar of Companies raised an objection regarding perpetual succession and limited liability under the Companies Act, 1956, as the local body will have new elected representatives every five years. Moreover, there was no precedence of a local body executing a power project.
Hurdles galoreThe project started at an estimate of Rs.10.11 crore to generate 85 mu annually with a 3MW capacity had to face cost overruns.
Nabard sanctioned a loan of Rs.7.56 crore and the rest came as equity from 12 grama panchayats, block panchayat, and the district panchayat. Delay in getting clearance to use 1.15 hectares of forestland also hampered the project.
Engineers of the panchayat said the project was aimed at generating peak load time power.
Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed will inaugurate the project at a function to be presided over by Local Administration Minister M.K. Muneer.
