August 27, 2023: Director (Projects & Technical), NHPC Ltd, Biswajit Basu, inaugurated the ‘Road Tunnel’, constructed by HCC on 27 August 2023, which will enable access during construction to the Dam site, Powerhouse, and other important components. Hasan Nadeem, Executive Director – NHPC & MD – CVPPPL; Bikram Singh, Executive Director-Regional Office (Jammu); and H. Bulchandani, Head of the Project, were present during the inauguration. The 1856 MW Sawalkote Hydropower Project, the largest Hydropower Project in J&K, is allotted to NHPC for implementation.

The construction work for the 1.5 km long double-lane road tunnel was awarded to HCC by the Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC).

Only one Inlet portal was assessable for the construction work as the other end was dead. During heading excavation work from the inlet portal, seepage with heavy water ingress was encountered at RD 410 in the tunnel in August 2018, and the tunnel was flooded up to RD 250. Ingress water measured 27,000 litres per minute. Six heavy-duty dewatering pumps were installed with an 8-inch pipeline for dewatering. It took over 3.5 months to rectify the water seepage. The work resumed at the end of November 2018.

To overcome the water seepage, it was decided to manually excavate a small drift (2.5 m x 2.5 m) from the outlet end. The work for drift started from the outlet by shifting all material, like DG sets, Compress, etc., to the other side. The excavation was done from both sides, with heading excavation from the inlet side and drift from the outlet side using the drill & blast method and jackhammer. When the drift excavation reached 144 m from the outlet end, it was suspended due to a loose fall in the tunnel. But heading excavation from the inlet side continued till it met the drift side at RD1407. Water drainage from the tunnel was eased out after meeting both ends as water flowed with gravity to the outlet.

The benching work initially commenced from the inlet end, and after heading excavation up to the outlet end, the benching also started from the outlet end. But work was again halted from August to November 2020 due to the abrogation of Article 370 & 75A (that removed the special status of Jammu & Kashmir). The progress was also impacted between March and September 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In January 2021, an MOU was signed between NHPC & JKSPDC to hand over the project from JKSPDC to NHPC. The project’s progress slowed in this period as payment was delayed in the transition period. Finally, on 23 August 2022, JKSPDC formally informed HCC that the project was handed over to NHPC. As NHPC took over the project in a phased manner, payments were streamlined. HCC provided a revised work schedule, and accordingly, project work was resumed in full throttle on 10 August 2022 and completed in August 2023.