WATER-POWER IN INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20646, 19 August 1930, Page 13

WATER-POWER IN INDIA.

SCHEME TO COST £3,500,000. GOVERNMENT ENTERPRISE. The important scheme of the Punjab Government for the development of hydroelectric power in the Himalaya has recently been re-examined by a special committee, appointed at the request of the Punjab Legislative Council, and, in spite of the hostile criticism to which it had been submitted in certain quarters, lias been unanimously endorsed, and is to be continued to its completion. Electricity has hitherto been supplied to the towns and factories of North-west India from small plants, municipal or private, which produce their current at a cost varying from Jd to 2d a unit. Die development of industry has been hampered by this high figure, and the Industrial Commission recommended the undertaking of power production by the agency of Government on a much larger scale. A thorough examination of the sites available in the nearer Himalayan ranges led to the selection of a point on tlio XJIII River, a confluent of the Beas in Mandi State, 100 miles above railhead in the north of the Punjab. After consultation with Dr. 11. E. Gruncr, of Basel, Switzerland, an estimate of £3,500,000 was drawn up, and construction was begun in April, 1926. under the supervision of Colonel Battve, R.E., chief hydro-electric engineer to the Government. According to the project, the water of the Ulil will be drawn off at a .barrage at an elevation of 6000 ft., passed through a tunnel 9ft. 3in. in diameter and 2i miles long. It will fall 2000 ft. to a powerhouse at an elevation of 4000 ft., wlienco current will be distributed by trunk lines to a network covering the* Punjab, Delhi and part of the United Provinces. The production cost, according to the first estimate, was to be |d a unit on the high-tension line and slightly over £d as delivered to the local plants. These figures must now, on the revised estimate, be raised to approximately 5J6d and fd. The cheapness of these rates has been illustrated by comparison with the Shannon scheme in the Irish l'ree .State, for which the cost of production is 9-10t lis of a penny a unit.