Mandi, Oct 18 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday inspected the third phase of the Uhl hydropower project in Mandi, saying by January 2025, it will start power generation. He said lack of funds would not be allowed to hinder the completion of the project.

He announced an additional amount of Rs 85 crore as 'sovereign guarantee' for the project and said Rs 100 crore has already been provided in March for the project.

The Chief Minister said since the work of the project was going on for the last few years, resulting in escalation of its cost. The state government has now speeded up the work of this project. He said by the end of December or January 2025 power generation would be started after completing all technical investigations and findings.

He directed the project managers to complete this work within the targeted period and no scarcity of funds would be allowed to come in the way.

The Chief Minister said the hydel sector was one of the main components of revenue generation and the state government was taking concrete steps to utilise its full potential. To make Himachal a green energy state by 2026, the government will harness all its renewable energy sources like hydropower, solar energy and green hydrogen in a productive and a massive scale.

Sukhu said the state government was providing about Rs 2,200 crore to the electricity board as a grant and efforts were to make the board self-reliant and many important decisions were being taken in this direction.

“The state government is also considering the transfer of powers to the officials concerned for various works related to energy production,” the Chief Minister said.

Earlier, Devendra Singh, Managing Director of Phase-III, Uhl, briefed the Chief Minister about the project.