National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited will be setting up a 4,000-Mw power project at Pudimadaka in Anakapally mandal of Visakhapatnam district at an approximate cost of Rs 23,000 crore. A file clearing the same was signed by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Sunday.
In November 2010, the state government had conveyed its willingness for the implementation of the 4,000-Mw project by NTPC, subject to the condition that at least 50 per cent of the power produced from the project will, for all times, be allocated to the state.
Further, the state government said it would facilitate necessary clearances required for the project and provide the requisite land and water. In response, NTPC, in December 2010, sent a draft power purchase agreements (PPAs) to be entered between NTPC and the AP discoms. “The PPAs between NTPC and the discoms will be done shortly,” principal secretary (energy) Suthirtha Bhattacharya stated in a press release today.
“This is another critical step taken by the state government to promote power generation, which will help have access to power, matching to the ever-increasing needs in the state,” the chief minister said. Reddy also directed the APGenco to complete its projects on schedule so that power supply in the state could be improved to a large extent.
Kakatiya thermal project
Expressing satisfaction on the timely commissioning of Phase-I of Kakatiya thermal power project in Warangal district, the chief minister directed the energy officials to go ahead with Phase-II of the project even more vigorously.
“The state government will fully support Stage-II of the project — a boon for the Telangana region — which is being taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 3,466 crore,” he added.
Reddy told the officials that “as per your own estimates, the power demand would touch 2 78 million units (mu), a record in the history of the state power sector. We cannot ignore the unprecedented demand for every rabi season, which is increasing abnormally year after year.”
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The chief minister said around 3 million agricultural families were benefiting from the free power programmes in the state and the total power subsidy on free connections was around Rs 5,000 crore for the year 2010-11.
“The cumulative subsidy given since 2004-05 is Rs 29,303 crore. It is pertinent to note that the government had waived Rs 1,250 crore towards pending power bills for agricultural pump sets immediately after coming to power in 2004,” Reddy said.