Kerala   

State to get power from Tamil Nadu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State will get 122 MW of power from a mega power project at Tuticorin at Rs.2.92 a unit, Electricity Minister A.K. Balan has said.

The project, with an installed capacity of 1,000 MW, is being set up by Neyveli Lignite Corporation-Tamilnadu Power Limited, a joint venture of the Tamil Nadu government and the corporation. Besides Kerala and Tamil Nadu, power will be provided to Karnataka and Puducherry. The power tariff will be fixed by the Central Power Regulatory Commission. The project is expected to be commissioned by 2011-12. Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) Chairman Rajiv Sadanandan and NLC Chairman Jayaraman signed the power-sharing agreement in the presence of Mr. Balan.

The Minister said Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had agreed to resume the State’s quota from the Central pool. He urged the Centre to include the LNG power generation plant at Kayamkulam in the Eleventh Plan and give excise and customs duty exemptions for naphtha. The State is facing a shortage of 400 MW of power during peak load time, he said. The Minister said the Centre was holding prelimin-ary discussions with the Russian government for setting up LNG power projects to ge-nerate 12,000 MW. The State had urged the Centre to set up one project in the State.

Mr. Balan said restructuring of the KSEB would be taken up in six months. The report prepared by an expert committee in this regard was being discussed at various levels. The KSEB would be retained in the public sector itself, he said.

The Minister said a committee with Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac as convener had taken steps to realise power charge arrears due to the KSEB from various government departments, local self-government institutions and public sector undertakings. The arrears from the government institutions and local bodies touched Rs.1,240 crore and from private sector consumers Rs.600 crore. Also, an energy conservation drive had been launched by the government, he said.

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