POWER MINISTER LAYS FOUNDATION STONE FOR STAGE-II OF KAHALGAON
SUPER THERMAL POWER PROJECTION
The Minister of Power Shri
Suresh Prabhu has said that he is confident that at least 40,000
MW of generation capacity will be added during the 10th Five Year
Plan. Shri Prabhu was speaking to reporters at Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur
District of Bihar today, during the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony
of the Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Stage-II Project of the National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The second stage of the project
is of 1320 MW (2 x 660 MW). The Stage-I is of 840 MW. The Minister
of Power said that the addition of 40,000 MW of generation capacity
would be a major achievement as during the 8th and 9th Plans only
40 percent to 45 percent of the targets had been achieved. In
addition the Ministry of Power is also looking at ways to reduce
project implementation time, so as to reduce cost of power. The
Minister said that the Stage-II of Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power
Stage-II is expected to be completed in a period of 36 months.
He urged the NTPC to look into ways! to complete the project in
an even shorter period. Shri Prabhu said that at present the power
sector in the country is going through a period of financial crisis
and the complete focus of the Ministry of Power is to take the
sector towards bankability. Towards this end a number of measures
have been taken. These include: - Cabinet approval to the provision
of Tripartite Agreements to be signed by the states, as part of
the power reforms package. So far 14 state governments have agreed
to sign the tripartite agreements, the Minister said. Further
under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme
(APDRP), Shri Prabhu said a six level intervention strategy for
distribution reforms has been put in place, which has started
showing results. Under this strategy, the State of Rajasthan has
shown an appreciable increase in revenue collection, and the Faridabad
Power Circle in Haryana has become the first profit center. In
addition only last week, the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India (ICAI) along with the Power! Finance Corporation (PFC)
had released a study on Accounting for the Power Sector. This
study, which had been ordered by the Minister of Power, recommends
uniform accounting standards for all State Electricity Boards
(SEBs) across the country, so that there is transparency in their
operations. These uniform accounting standards would become implementable
from the current financial year. The Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power
Project will benefit the Northern, Western and Eastern Region
states. The coal source will be from the Rajmahal Coal Mines,
Hura Project and the Choperbita Coal Mines and the water source
will be from the Ganga River. The Minister of Railways, Shri Nitish
Kumar was the Chief Guest at the foundation laying ceremony, while
the Minister of State for Power; Smt. Jayawanti Mehta was also
present along with the Minister for Energy of Bihar, Shri Shakeel
Ahmed Khan.
