Arunachal government holds first cabinet meeting of 2023, key takeaways

The first Cabinet Meeting of 2023 was held on January 10, 2023, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pema Khandu at the state civil secretariat, Itanagar. 

Below are the key discussions/observations/decisions.

1. Harnessing the Hydropower potential of Arunachal Pradesh in a sustainable manner for the benefit of the local communities, state and the nation. 

2. Arunachal, through its hydropower, would contribute majorly towards India’s Commitment to increasing non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW. 

3. Hydropower is a major source of renewable energy and if harnessed would bring in the all-round socio-economic development of the area through massive investment in infrastructure as well as provisions such as free power, local area development fund, employment, contracts and business opportunities, social sector development such as health and education. 

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4. Today the Cabinet deliberated and finalised an action plan for unlocking this rich potential. The Cabinet decided that some important stalled projects currently with IPPs will now be handed over to CPSUs for development. 

5. Cabinet decided to handover over 5 already terminated projects to the CPSUs namely, (i) Naying(1000MW) and (ii) Hirong (500MW) to NEEPCO and (iii) Emini(500MW), (iv) Amulin(420MW), (v) Minundon(400MW) to SJVNL for development.  

6. These projects will see an investment of Rs 40000 Cr in the next 5-7 years and would generate green power of 2880 MW and provide revenue of around Rs.500 Cr per year in free power and around Rs.100 Cr for Local Area Development. 

7. The Cabinet approved the indicative procedure for transferring the stalled hydropower projects from the IPP to CPSUs in order to unlock the potential. An Action Plan has been prepared to commence the work on 13 priority projects with 12343 MW capacity. This would lead to an investment of Rs.1.5 lakh Crore and would provide a revenue of Rs.2000 Cr to the state as a free power and around Rs.350 Cr per year for local area development. 

8. The Cabinet also approved the inclusion of one male and one female member in the Local Area Development Committee set up under the Deputy Commissioner for the management of the Local Area Development Fund. 

9. The Cabinet also approved that revenue generated by the State Government through the free power will be invested in Government Bonds/Green Bonds which would be used for the development of the State.