HCC (Hindustan Construction Company Ltd in joint venture with Halcrow Group Ltd. U.K. (Halcrow) has been awarded the prestigious and challenging 330 MW Kishanganga hydro-electric project by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. (NHPC).

The turnkey contract is valued at approximately Rs2,726.49 crore. The HCC-Halcrow consortium will have a share in the ratio of 98:2 respectively.

Logistics is a key factor in mountainous area as the region operated very few months in a year. Halcrow is specialist in logistic management and this is where their core competence will be useful. Though HCC has constructed several hydel projects in J&K, logistic management has always been a fine tuned affair.

The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project is located on river Kishanganga, a tributary of river Jhelum, in Baramulla district of Jammu & Kashmir.

The project involves the construction of a 37m high concrete faced rockfill dam, 23.5 km of head race tunnel and an underground powerhouse. A maximum gross head of 665 m is proposed to be utilised to generate 1350 million units of energy, in a 90 per cent dependable year with an installed capacity of 3x110 MW.

This is an EPC contract where HCC will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction of all items including civil and associated infrastructure works; supply, installation, testing and commissioning of all electromechanical plant & machinery and hydro-mechanical components including generating units. The project will be completed and commissioned in an estimated 84 months.

Sharing details of the contract, Mr Vinayak Deshpande, president and chief operating officer, HCC said, "This is a prestigious contract win for us. HCC has successfully constructed over 23 per cent of India's hydel power generation capacity including several challenging hydel power projects in the Himalayan regions.

With this prestigious EPC project for HCC, we have further strengthened our robust order book with a significant portion coming from the power segment".

HCC has contributed significantly in the infrastructure development of Jammu & Kashmir. It has built the state's largest hydro-electric power project – the Salal Dam and is currently also developing five other infrastructure projects.

These includes three hydel power projects viz. Chutak HEPP (in Kargil), Nimoo Bazgo HEPP (in Leh) and URI HEPP in addition to the historic 84 km Mughal Road and the Pirpanjal Tunnels of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link. HCC has also constructed Bhutan's largest hydroelectric power project at Tala.

Halcrow specialises in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure development worldwide. With interests in transportation, water, maritime and property, the company is undertaking commissions in over 80 countries from a network of more than 90 offices.