The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : NLC inks pact for supplying power to Gujarat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 29, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

NLC inks pact for supplying power to Gujarat

Special Correspondent

Lignite mine-cum-power project planned

POWER SUPPLIER : S. Jayaraman, Chairman and Managing Director, Neyveli Lignite Corporation (left), after signing an MoU with Balwant Singh (second from right), Principal Secretary, Energy, Government of Gujarat, in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minis ter Narendra Modi (centre), in Chennai on Friday. — Photo: K.V. Srinviasan

CHENNAI: The Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a 50-year-old Central power utility catering to the southern States, took a step on Friday to supply power to Gujarat by signing a memorandum of understanding with the State Government. At a simple function here, S. Jayaraman, NLC Chairman and Managing Director, and Balwant Singh, Principal Secretary of Energy and Petrochemicals, Gujarat Government, signed an agreement for implementing an integrated lignite mine-cum-power project in south Gujarat. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials of Gujarat and the NLC were present.

The Rs. 7,500-crore project envisages production of 8 million tonnes (MT) of lignite per annum and 1,000 megawatt (MW) in the first phase. Four MT and 500 MW will be produced in the second phase.

The project will be completed in five years, and is to come up near Surat. A joint venture company will be floated for implementing the project, in which the NLC will have a shareholding in the range of 74 per cent to 89 per cent, with the Gujarat Government taking the balance.

Upon commissioning of the project, power generated would be made available to Gujarat and other States in the West as per the allocation.

Making a presentation, Mr. Jayaraman described the Gujarat project as a high-priority one and said it would be one of the expansion projects being taken up by the NLC. Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu were among the States where the Corporation had taken up the expansion projects.

In Jayamkondam (Tamil Nadu) where another integrated project had been proposed, the Corporation had commenced preliminary work. Initially, 1000 MW would be generated and this would go up to 2000 MW subsequently, the NLC chief said.

At present, the NLC produced 24 MT of lignite per annum and 2,490 MW at Neyveli.

Mr. Modi said his State had good lignite reserves. The power production capacity was now about 9,300 MW and it would cross 14,000 MW in five years.

This gave enormous investment opportunity in the power sector. With a long coastline of 1,600 km, Gujarat was also an ideal destination for setting up imported coal-based power plants.

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