India has dusted off the long-stalled Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab River, putting it back on track after more than 40 years.

With the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) placed in abeyance, New Delhi is pushing ahead with international tenders for the 1,856 MW run-of-the-river project near Sidhu village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district. Estimated at over 22,700 crore and split into two stages, the project is now being rolled out by NHPC under a build-own-operate-transfer model.

For decades, Sawalkote had been held up due to Pakistan’s objections under the IWT, environmental clearances, and compensation disputes. But with the treaty on ice, India seems determined to step up its upstream utilization of the Chenab—one of the three western rivers that Pakistan depends on almost entirely for irrigation and survival.

This push........

© Pakistan Observer