The largest ever hydropower dam being planned on the Chenab, Sawalakote, has become the first major project to get fresh mandatory environmental clearance from the Central ministry. Stalled for almost four decades, the clearance will now hasten the process of construction of this mega 1,856 MW project. At one time, after getting elected in October 1996, Dr Farooq Abdullah had tried to get the project going but met with little success despite hectic efforts.
During Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s tenure as Chief Minister, starting November 2002, the project vanished from public spaces altogether as it was shelved. During 2017, when his daughter Mehbooba Mufti was chief minister with the help of the BJP, this project got its first environmental clearance. With the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) on April 23 this year, hydropower projects on the Western Rivers got added momentum and Sawalakote mega project has now become the numero uno to get clearance.
Given Pakistan’s dog in the manger policy pursued on all hydropower project, the Indian government was wary of taking up the construction of Sawalakote project, besides some others. Time costs money is a truism which applies in most situations and here too, in case of Sawalakote project, delay in construction has escalated costs to a whopping Rs 31,380 crore. At this rate, the cost per MW of power generated by Sawalakote will come to around Rs 16 crore.
This clean and renewable energy will lead to major benefits for the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir where the project is located. By the time this project is completed, J&K may be already a power surplus UT as two other major projects on the Chenab, Pakal Dool (1,000 MW capacity) and Ratle (850 MW capacity) are nearing completion. This can be a game changer as it is likely to foster all round development due to a reliable power supply and related spin-offs.
The Environment Ministry has accorded a fresh environmental clearance to the Sawalakote project proposed to come up on Chenab at a location downstream of Baglihar and upstream of Salal hydropower projects. Besides adding to the region’s power supply substantially due to its large size, the project will enhance Bharat’s ability to manage and store the Chenab’s waters. Presently, we have rights allowed to store certain amount of waters on the Western Rivers under the IWT. However, this right has mainly remained restricted to a written word on papers due to a host of factors, engineering challenges and Pakistan’s hostile attitude to any storages.
RoR project
Sawalakote hydropower project has been planned as a run-of-the-river (RoR) project as per the IWT norms. However, it augurs well for the power generation sector as this mega dam has become the first to get clearance after the IWT was put in abeyance following Pahalgam terror attack. The message being sought to be conveyed to Pakistan, as also others, is that India will brook no opposition to its dam building activities.
“The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), after examining the information submitted and detailed deliberations, reiterated its earlier recommendation on the project and recommended the proposal for grant of prior Environmental Clearance,” according to the minutes of a meeting conducted in last week of September, around a fortnight ago.
The project had first received environmental clearance in 2017, when it was being steered by the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation (JKPDC). Four years later, in 2021, it signed a deal with the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) to take it on board after facing substantial difficulties, mainly in mobilising the requisite capital, in the project execution.
The JKPDC failed to get mandatory forest clearance within J&K, something which put paid to the Environment Ministry approvals. It was only two years ago in September 2023 that the project was given partial forest clearance.
For the last four years, even as JKPDC has been involved in transferring the project to the NHPC, some approvals from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) were accorded in July 2025, within first 100 days after putting IWT in abeyance. Public hearings, in villages likely to be impacted and taking feedback from the public, as per the Forest Rights Act, had already been completed by February 2023.
“The Sawalkote project was already going through various stages of approval. Given its size, it will be the largest project of its kind and has always had certain strategic importance. The suspension of the IWT and the plan to utilise the full potential of the eastern Indus rivers have added momentum to the approval process,” according to officials.
Project details
The project will have a 192.5-metre high Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) component and this will be the first activity likely to be taken up. Planned as a run-of-the-river (ROR) project utilising the flow of the Chenab to generate electricity, it is thus the first major power project to get environmental clearance following IWT being put in abeyance on April 23 this year.
The appraisal committee has reiterated its earlier recommendation on the project. As stated above, the project was first accorded an environmental clearance in 2017. However, the JKPDC has signed a deal with the NHPC to build and commission the project and retain substantial control for 40 years.
With IWT constraints out of the way at a time when the project is being initiated, it is likely there may be new design elements for sediment control it may follow. Technically, the most modern and latest methods for sediment clearing, available worldwide nowadays, are likely to be incorporated. It needs to be mentioned that being a fast flowing Himalyan river, the Chenab has a heavy sediment load. In fact, Pakistan had objected to certain design elements of Salal project when it was being built.
On Baglihar power project too, the differences between India and Pakistan had arisen on the question of sediment clearing. The 192.5 metre high Sawalkote gravity dam will have six power generator units of 225 MW capacity (225×6= 1,350 MW) and one unit of 56MW capacity in the first stage. Later, once the first phase has been completed and satisfactorily run for some time, two more units of 225 MW (225×2= 450 MW) will be added in the second phase.
A total of 13 villages from two tehsils, viz. Ramban and Gool Sangaldan of Ramban district, will be affected due to acquisition of land for the construction of components of the Sawalkote project. In all, around 1,500 families are expected to be displaced, requiring resettlement elsewhere and adequate money has been kept aside carrying out this rehabilitation. Incidentally, Sangaldan tehsil of Ramban was earlier considered back of the beyond (too remote) but the passage of train line from Katra to Kashmir has changed this impression.
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