NTPC in sight of Rs 20,000 cr Arunachal hydel project

NTPC Ltd is on the verge of signing it's biggest power generation project, a Rs 20,000-crore hydel project at Italin (4,000 Mw) in Arunachal Pradesh.

In addition, the state government has agreed to sign an agreement with the company to set up another 500 Mw of hydel generation capacity at another location.

"The decision on the memorandum of understanding was reached in a meeting held by the power ministry with the state government last month. The memorandum of understanding with the state government and NTPC is expected to be signed shortly," a company executive told Business Standard.

This is the second major boost for developing hydropower in the state after Arunachal Pradesh's arrangement with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation for setting up 10,500 Mw of hydropower capacity.

NTPC currently has a hydel project that is under construction at Koldam (800 Mw) in Himachal Pradesh, which is expected to be completed by 2008. The single largest project NTPC has executed is the thermal-based Talcher (3,000 Mw) project in Orissa.

In a separate development, the Arunachal Pradesh government has also agreed to enter into an agreement with North Eastern Electric Power Corporation for setting up 1,000 Mw of hydropower capacity in the state with an estimated investment of around Rs 5,000 crore.

Arunachal Pradesh had earlier offered Hutang-I and II and Kalai-I and II for development to NTPC Ltd.