The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Power (MoP) for providing central financial assistance (CFA) to state governments of the north eastern region (NER) to support their equity participation in the development of hydro electric projects.
These projects will be developed through joint venture (JV) collaborations between state entities and central public sector undertakings (CPSUs). The scheme, with total outlay of Rs 41.36 billion aims to develop a cumulative hydro capacity of 15,000 MW in the north eastern region, funded through 10 per cent gross budgetary support from the Ministry of Power. The grant for the equity portion of the state governments in NER will be capped at 24 per cent of the total project equity, with a maximum of Rs 7.50 billion per project, while maintaining the equity ratio between the CPSU and the state government in the JV at the time of grant disbursement. The implementation is set to commence from 2024-25 to 2031-32.
