S.K. Garg in Calcutta on Saturday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, April 5: State-owned NHPC Ltd plans to develop a few of its hydel power sites into tourism spots. “We are planning to develop tourist spots in locations such as Subansiri and Debang in Arunachal Pradesh and Omkereswar in Madhya Pradesh,” said S.K. Garg, chairman of NHPC Ltd.

While the 520MW Omkereswar hydropower project in Madhya Pradesh has recently been commissioned, the 2,000MW Subansiri project in Arunachal Pradesh is under construction. “We will also develop a 3,000MW multipurpose hydropower project at Debang valley in Arunachal Pradesh,” Garg said.

NHPC’s Dhauliganga project, commissioned in 2005 at Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, will also be developed into a tourism centre.

Earlier, two power developers —– Damodar Valley Corporation and West Bengal Power Development Corporation —– had identified a few project sites to develop tourism as an alternative source of income.

NHPC will develop two power projects, Teesta Low Dam III (132MW) and Teesta Low Dam IV (160MW), in Darjeeling at an investment of Rs 1,900 crore. “The entire power generated from these two projects will be used by Bengal only,” said Garg.

At a later date, NHPC may consider developing tourism around these two projects, too. Teesta Low Dam III project will be flagged off in 2009-10 and the other one will be commissioned in 2010-11.

Three power projects — Dulhasti (390MW) in Jammu & Kashmir, Teesta V (510MW) in Sikkim and Omkereswar (520MW) in Madhya Pradesh was commissioned in a record time of 12 months. NHPC’s total installed capacity stood at 5,175MW at the end of 2007-08. “We aim to add 5,000MW during the remaining part of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, including 12 projects in different states. Of these, two (Teesta Low Dam III & IV) will be in Bengal,” Garg added.

In the Twelfth Five Year Plan, the company aims to add 13,000MW to its installed capacity at an investment of Rs 35,000 crore.