PCPIR between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in for major power and water shortage

Visakhapatnam: The proposed PCPIR envisaged between Vizag and Kakinada may face power and water shortage after the projected investments are materialised.

PCPIR needs at least 4,800 MW power with whole processing area is expected to be industrialised.  

As per the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared by EPTRI, for the PCPIR, at present, the region is drawing around 313.5 MW power for industrial purposes.

“With the processing area getting industrialised, there is likely to be severe shortage of power up to 4,500 MW,” said the EIA report by EPTRI.  

While the existing demand for the residential sector is around 74 MW, the demand is likely to increase to nearly 506 MW by the year 2031 with increase in population due to industrialisation.

The present agricultural demand is nearly 3.5 MW in the 93 villages in VK-PCPIR region and the present demand may rise to 5.0 MW with more commercial crops in the region.

Similarly, the proposed PCPIR needs 3,672.50 Million Litres per Day (MLD) water. According to the EIA, the main source of water for PCPIR includes Yeleru Left Main Canal (YLMC), Samalkota Canal and proposed Indira Sagar Left Main Canal (ISLMC).

The present water supply to the existing users in VKPCPIR is 707 MLD against 949 MLD demand. Out of 707 MLD of water supplied, nearly 45 MLD is drawn from groundwater.

The groundwater is being drawn by Pedagantyada industrial cluster, Parawada  industrial cluster, MSME units, except Pedagantyada mandal and rural  villages and remaining is from surface water of 662 MLD.

After completion of all envisaged water supply projects 3,672.50 MLD water will be available for existing as well as future needs.

However, there is already gap between the demand and water supply to the region and the long pending ISLMC, part of prestigious multipurpose Polavaram project, may take many years to be materialised. The same Yeleru canal supplies water to Vizag’s agriculture and domestic needs.

Regarding the land that is required, a total of 33,072.935 acres of land has been acquired out of which 22,912.44 acres is private and 10160.495 acres is government land.

Meanwhile AP state government’s ambitious plan to develop PCPIR between Vizag and Kakinada to attract global investments worth lakhs of crores may not be realised soon as the government is struggling to find an anchor company.

APIIC in May last year cancelled the land allotment it made to the state run HPCL for its proposed 15 million tonnes refinery, which was supposed to be an anchor company with an investment of Rs 45,000 crore for delay in grounding the project on time.

HPCL had sought reallotment of the same land at Achyuthapuram but by that time it was allotted to NTPC, which has plans to develop a 4,000 MW super thermal power plant.

APIIC had suggested either Nakkapalli or Kakinada for the land allotment for which HPCL is said to be not so keen. HPCL has approached the APIIC with a revival plan seeking reallotment of the land.

This time the oil company proposed to set up a 9.5 mtpa refinery, which will cost around Rs 20,000 crore initially, instead of 15 million tonne as envisaged earlier. There are no solid investment assurances or proposals.