The Hindu : MoU for LNG terminal in Kayamkulam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 08, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

MoU for LNG terminal in Kayamkulam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JAN. 7. The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for establishment of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Kayamkulam for the expansion of the Kayamkulam thermal power plant.

The Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, told presspersons here on Wednesday that the Cabinet had approved the proposal for signing the MOU. The KSIDC would be the nodal agency for the project.

The terminal would facilitate increasing the capacity of the power plant from 350 MW to 2,300 MW. The use of LNG, both in the existing generators and those to be set up, would bring down the generation costs.

The Chief Minister said the Cabinet had decided to constitute a Biodiversity Board with the former Kerala Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor, M.M. Michael, as chairman. (The Board is to recommend policies to tackle the threat of biopiracy and protect the biodiversity of the State.)

Mr. Antony announced that the pension of ration dealers from their contributory pension scheme would be increased from Rs. 150 to Rs. 500 a month.

He said the two per cent increase in the credit-deposit (CD) ratio of banks in the State was noteworthy. However, the deposits from overseas Keralites had come down on account of drop in the interest rates. He said that the priority sector lending would have come down.

Replying to a question, Mr. Antony said the Government had not received the report of the Advocate General on the complaints against the Additional Advocate General and other Government pleaders on the conduct of forest cases by them.

The report and recommendation of the Advocate General on a CBI inquiry into the Marad incident was pending decision, he said.

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