THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government would consider taking up the Pathrakadavu hydroelectric project only if the River Valley Expert Committee of the Centre gives clearance to it, Electricity Minister A.K. Balan said here on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said the administrative sanction given by the Government to proceed with the project was subject to approval by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The Minister said that a registered voluntary organisation, Environment Resource Research Centre, which had done the comprehensive environment impact assessment of the project, had said that the project was extremely viable and that the impact on the natural vegetation and environment would be negligible. This was being forwarded to the Ministry and the Committee for their approval. The State Government had done no value judgement on the report.

The Minister said the study was commissioned during the UDF rule at a cost of Rs.22 lakh. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala was misleading the public by speaking against the project now.

The UDF Government had given the first administrative sanction for the project in 2003 following project formulation and investigation. A rapid environmental assessment and public hearing were conducted subsequently.

Need for more power

Mr. Balan said Kerala would have to add additional power generation capacity of 1,500 MW in the next ten years to meet the increasing demand. The number of power consumers would be going up from 87 lakh to one crore by 2010 and the demand to 3,550 MW.

This called for total installed capacity of 4,500 MW. Besides, source would have to be found for requirements of project such as the Vizhinjam Port (300 MW), Smart City (150 MW), Vallarpadam Container Terminal (200 MW) and railway electrification.

He said the State was receiving 1,188 MW of power from the Central pool. This was cut by 168 MW recently.

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