BHEL sets up 2 units in UP to boost expansion

As part of its manufacturing capacity expansion to 15,000 MW per annum in the next two years, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is setting up a new fabrication plant and a central stamping unit at Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh.

The new units are being set up by BHEL at a cumulative initial investment of Rs 306 crore. "This is expected to provide direct and indirect employment to about 1,000 people in the category of technicians, supervisors and engineers," a company press release said here.

BHEL said the foundation stones for both the new units were laid yesterday by Congress General Secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi.

According to the release, Gandhi said the government had drawn up ambitious plans for additional 165,000 MW capacities to the power generating base in the country during the XIth and XIIth Five-Year Plans.

He said having done a commendable job in ensuring self- sufficiency in the manufacturing of power plant equipment in the country, BHEL is poised to take up the challenge and play a major role in meeting energy demand of the country.

BHEL Chairman and Managing Director Ashok K Puri said the company's contribution had crossed 100,000 MW this year covering both the domestic and export markets, in addition to supplying over 25,000 units of electric motors, 70,000 units of traction machines and over 300,000 MVS transformer.

"The domestic capability must be nurtured in future too when the country is embarking upon an ambitious nuclear power generation programme," he said.

BHEL said the fabrication plant was being set up to meet the burgeoning requirement of fabricated component assemblies required by BHEL's major units at Bhopal, Haridwar, Hyderabad and Trichy in view of the company's capacity augmentation to 15,000 MW.

The plant would produce around 25,000 tonne per annum, including about 16,000 tonne of structures of boilers for direct dispatch to power plant sites in the eastern and northern regions.

The plant will become fully operational in three years, it said. "A financial turnover of about Rs 270 crore is envisaged for the plant in the stabilised year of production," the release said.

BHEL said the central stamping unit is being set up to meet the increased requirement of stampings, a critical part of electrical machines, due to growth in business and market demand for generators and electrical motors.

Currently, stampings are being manufactured in the Bhopal, Hyderabad and Haridwar units of BHEL with a total installed capacity of about 77 lakh stampings per annum.

The demand for stampings is estimated to go up to 130 lakh per year by 2010-11, for which a centralised unit is being set up.

BHEL already has an insulator plant at Jagdishpur.