Govt notifies hydro project guidelines for sensitive areas
Govt notifies hydro project guidelines for sensitive areas
New Delhi: The Union government has notified the guidelines for foreign companies to be able to participate in hydroelectric power projects in so-called sensitive areas.
Foreign firms will need a security clearance to take part in hydroelectric projects that are within 50km of India’s borders or in other sensitive locations.
“The guidelines also provide for the restrictions on employment of foreign employees to be deployed at the project either awarded or sub-contracted to a foreign company and their stay and movement outside the designated place of stay and project site," Bharatsinh Solanki, minister of state for power, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
After last November’s terror attacks in Mumbai, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) informed the government that power plants could be targeted by terrorists.
The new guidelines, however, make it clear that once a foreign firm has been qualified at the request for qualification stage to submit a commercial bid, it will not be barred on grounds of security.
utpal.b@livemint.com
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