National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has cleared the deck for setting up a new regional office in Raipur.
Senior officials of the company informed the state government that the process had started and the new regional office would be set up soon in Raipur, a top official with the state's energy department said.
The officials with NTPC confirmed the development and said a meeting was held in Mumbai to approve the proposal and discuss about the new set up. The new regional office would come up by bifurcating the Western region with its headquarters at Mumbai.
The new regional office, which would be headed by a regional executive director, would be known as NTPC's Western region-II. According to company officials, this would be the eighth region of NTPC in the country. Besides Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh would be in its jurisdiction.
The proposal was in the pipeline after Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NTPC Arup Roy Choudhury gave his consent to set up new regional office in Raipur during a meeting with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh in October last year. The state government had agreed to provide land in the Naya Raipur area the proposed new capital of Chhattisgarh.
The state energy department officials quoting the NTPC management said that a set-up of 50 employees had been approved for the regional office.
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Secretary with state's energy department Aman Singh said that the new regional office would help expedite NTPC's projects in the state and also in the neighbouring state of Madhya Pradesh. The new office would also help in the smooth operation of company's existing projects.
NTPC, the largest power producing company, is developing a coal mine in Raigarh district besides a proposed 4000-Mw power project near Lara in the same district of Chhattisgarh. In Madhya Pradesh, the company had announced to come up with two power projects.
The 2600-Mw Korba power project in Chhattisgarh produces power at the cheapest rate. The NTPC is coming up with 2960-Mw power project in Sipat of Bilaspur district in the state. The two units of 500-Mw each had already started production while the three units of 660-Mw each were under construction.