The Finance Ministry's Public Investment Board approved a Rs 1,400 crore grant for the 1,800-MW Sawalkote project but sent the Rs 18,730 crore loan proposal for separate review, ETV Bharat reported.

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• The Public Investment Board (PIB), a Finance Ministry body that appraises major projects, approved a Rs 1,400 crore grant for infrastructure works at Sawalkote.
• Sawalkote is a 1,800-MW project on the Chenab river, being developed by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) and is Jammu and Kashmir's largest hydropower project.
• The PIB referred the proposed Rs 18,730.25 crore loan to the Economic Affairs Department's budget division for separate consideration.
• The Power Ministry had sought an interest-free loan during construction, with 1 percent annual interest payable over 25 years after commercial operation begins.
• The aim is to bring the energy tariff down from more than Rs 9.57 per unit to above Rs 5 per unit.
• The project cost has been revised to Rs 26,373 crore from an earlier Rs 35,000 crore, with a debt-equity ratio of 75:25.
• NHPC's 25 percent equity contribution is fixed at Rs 6,243 crore, and any cost escalation in equity must be borne by NHPC.
• The PIB set a tentative completion deadline of August 2036, and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs must still approve the project before construction formally begins.
• The project spans three districts, covers over 1,401 hectares including more than 840 hectares of forest land, and was handed to NHPC in 2021 on a 40-year build-own-operate-transfer model.
• The project stalled for nearly four decades amid administrative hurdles, environmental concerns and Pakistan's objections, as the Chenab is a western river under the Indus Waters Treaty.
• India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty after the April 2025 Pahalgam attack has given the project renewed momentum.
• J&K's representative sought assurance of an encumbrance-free return after 40 years and raised concerns over a cut in design energy from 7,994 million units to 7,010 million units.

Tags: SawalkoteHydropower, PublicInvestmentBoard, NHPC