Arunachal Pradesh has roped in RusHydro International, a company partly owned by the Russian government, to explore collaboration prospects in creating manpower for the several hydro-electric projects coming up in the state. Chief minister Nabam Tuki meanwhile said the state would also want the Russian company to design hydro-electric projects in the state.

The collaboration, which was in the form of a joint cooperation declaration between the state government and the Russian company, intends to provide modular education facilities for developing technical manpower in the state with its tie-ups with professional and reputed educational institutions, an official spokesman said in Itanagar.

RusHydro International is one of Russia’s largest power generating companies with 38.2 GW installed electricity generation capacity distributed over 70 renewable energy source facilities across the country. The joint declaration was signed on the sidelines of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi last week when representatives of RusHydro were part of a business delegation accompanying him.

The joint cooperation declaration aims to create a mechanism for possible collaboration on Hydropower education projects in Arunachal Pradesh under a Public Private Partnership Model (PPP), official sources said. “Taking into account the international experience of RusHydro in the field of hydropower and other renewable energy sources, engineering, construction and operation, the Company has expressed willingness to take part in activities to develop educational services in the state,” official sources added.

Hudro-electric power projects coming up in Arunachal Pradesh have been facing a lot of hurdles with communities within the state as well as in downstream Assam expressing various apprehensions over both submergence as well as adverse downstream impact. Official sources in Itanagar said since Rushydro had designed Tehri dam, said to be one of the safest dams in the world, its presence in Arunachal Pradesh would help allay these apprehensions.

Lauding it as a significant development, state chief minister Tuki said it would immensely contribute towards meeting human resources required for the several hydro-electric projects coming up in the state.

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