500 MW power project on anvil in Tripura

AGARTALA, Feb 27 — One of the largest power project of the North East region, the 500 megawatt combined cycle power project will come up at Monarchok in Sonamura, South Tripura district. Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu will lay the foundation stone of the project on March 1, Power Minister of Tripura Badal Choudhury said yesterday. He said, the project will be made operational within the next 33 months. Speaking to the reporters in a joint press conference at the secretariat today, General Manager NEEPCO, Tripura project PK Ghosh said, the gas turbine generator will become operational within the first 33 months whereas the steam turbine generator will become operational within 2 months from the date of commissioning. He said, the works are likely to be completed by September next following clearances from the Cabinet Committee on economic affairs. The power plant which will occupy 75 hectares of land will have six gas turbines with a capacity of generating 60 MW at an average whereas three steam-based turbines of generation capacity 60 MW. For the purpose, 2 million standard cubic metre gas per day at the rate of six thousand hours of operation per year will be required, Ghosh said. On the major beneficiaries of the project, Ghosh said, power will be supplied to the states like Punjab (70 MW), West Bengal (200 MW), Haryana (200 MW), Delhi (50 MW) from the project through the 400 KV national grid. The cost of the power will stand at Rs 1.86 per unit. Power Grid will get 70 paise as transmission charge. On the supply of funds for the project two foreign financial institutions, Japan Bank of International Co-operation and Deutsche Bank have agreed to finance the project and the final decision will be taken by the Centre. The NEEPCO officer said, the entire group-C and group-D shall be made through the employment exchange of Tripura. It may be mentioned here that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the state government and the NEEPCO on December 2000 last giving go-ahead signal for the project.