ITANAGAR, June 26 - Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu inaugurated the 6-MW Shaikangchu Small Hydro Electric Project (SHEP) at Gongkhar village under his home constituency, Mukto, in Tawang district on Monday in the presence of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, Parliamentary Secretary for RWD Jambey Tashi and Tawang MLA Tsering Tashi.
The Chief Minister, in his speech, said that the Shaikangchu SHEP is the biggest project undertaken by the Hydropower Department of the State. He congratulated the department officials on successfully completing the project, which was initiated by his late father and former Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu to make Tawang a power-surplus district.
�The hydel project will supply electricity to 27 villages in and around the Mukto circle and the surplus power generated will be supplied to the Tawang district headquarters,� said Khandu.
He added that Tawang has 14 hydel stations with a total installed capacity of 11.41 MW. With the commissioning of the Shaikangchu SHEP, the power generating capacity will be enhanced to 17.41 MW.
The Chief Minister said the development of small hydro-electric projects would benefit the underdeveloped rural areas by improving living conditions of the population. The Shaikangchu project will generate revenue of Rs 8 crore annually, he added.
Khandu also inaugurated a 50-metre built-up girder bridge, also known as the Gongkhar-to-Tengthen bridge, over the Tawang-Chu river that will provide alternative connectivity between Tawang and Jang under the Mukto constituency. The bridge project was executed by the Rural Works Department at a cost of Rs 2.14 crore.
