The Hindu : Front Page : Rs. 16,000-crore funding for TNEB

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 03, 2007
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Rs. 16,000-crore funding for TNEB

T. Ramakrishnan

Rural Electrification Corporation funds will boost capacity by 2,500 MW

MoU signed at Secretariat Projects to yield in five years

DEAL FINALISED: Anil Kumar Lakhina, Chairman and Managing Director of Rural Electrification Corporation (second from left) and Hans Raj Verma, Chairman, TNEB (right), presenting documents to the Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi after signing an MoU at t he Secretariat in Chennai on Monday.

CHENNAI: The power sector in the State received a major boost on Monday with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) signing a memorandum of understanding with the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) for a financial assistance of Rs. 16,000 crore.

Hans Raj Verma, Chairman, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, and Anil K. Lakhina, Chairman and Managing Director, REC, signed the MoU at the Secretariat. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy were present.

The funds would be used for capacity addition at the North Chennai, Ennore, Mettur and Tuticorin thermal power plants to the extent of 2,500 MW. Mr. Veerasamy later told The Hindu that the North Chennai, Ennore and Mettur thermal plants would see an addition of 500 MW each. The Tuticorin thermal station's capacity would go up by 1,000 MW.

The cost of the capacity addition was estimated at Rs. 9,250 crore. Of this, Tuticorin would account for Rs. 4,000 crore, Ennore Rs. 2,000 crore, Mettur Rs. 1,750 crore and North Chennai Rs. 1,500 crore. A pumped-storage hydroelectric project with a capacity of 500 MW would be executed in Kundah, the Nilgiris, at a cost of Rs. 1,200 crore.

The assistance would also cover the establishment of 325 sub-stations at a total cost of Rs. 2,150 crore, the Minister said. The creation of power evacuation systems in all the plants would cost another Rs. 3,000 crore. A provision of Rs. 400 crore had been made towards cost escalation.

All the projects were expected to fructify in the next five years (XI Plan period of 2007-08 to 2011-12). They would not only result in additional power generation but strengthen the power transmission and distribution network throughout the State, according to an official release. Mr. Veerasamy said: "For the first time, the REC is providing such a huge assistance to a State."

Earlier, intervening in the debate in the Assembly on the demand for grants to the Energy department, the Minister said the Chief Minister would lay the foundation stone for the Jayamkondam lignite mining-cum-power generation project in January 2008.

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