Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) will invest Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000 crore for a 1600 mega watt power plant in West Bengal.
However, the location of the project is yet to be identified. The company officials had a meeting with the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday to decide on the location of the project. “We have got three-four options with us. The area will be decided based on the availability of water coal and land. It would be a 2x800 (1600 MW) power plant which will see an investment between Rs 10,00 to Rs 11,000 crore in the first phase,” said Shailendra Roy, senior vice president and head of corporate initiatives, Larsen & Toubro.
The firm will construct and run the plant and also has plans to add another 2x800 MW in the second phase. “We are ready to set up the plant alone or may even look at joint ventures,” he added. When asked about the difficulties in acquiring land in the state following the new land policy by the state government, Roy said, “Government is definitely going to help us in finding the land. Otherwise, it would be difficult as we cannot acquire the land here.”
The firm will come up with a report on the likely locations within 10 to 15 days. The firm said that once a location is finalized, it is going to come up with a detailed project report in a month. Business Standard had reported on Wednesday that the firm is mulling a power plant in Bengal.
Earlier, Banerjee had said that the state has offered the company 1,000 acre at Goaltore — with the condition that 300 acres should be set aside for manufacturing industry and the remaining 700 acres to set up the power plant of 700 to 800 MW. Meanwhile, the state industries and commerce minister Partha Chatterjee had told Business Standard that there is also a possibility of the firm chipping in as a joint venture partner in the proposed 1320 MW thermal power project at Adra in Purulia district which is being planned by NTPC and Indian Railways.
This was the third round of meeting by the company with the state officials. The proposed Adra project of 1320 MW (2 X 660 MW) was facing a rough weather following certain land acquisition and green hurdles. A memorandum of understanding was signed between NTPC and Railways regarding this in October 2010, after the then Railways minister Mamata Banerjee announced the project earlier.
In June this year, the firm’s chairman A M Naik had visited Banerjee and had said, “I have come to Bengal after 34 years of lack of economic growth and I heard in Delhi that she (Mamata) is full of ideas and progressive. She works very fast.” Recently, the firm had also announced a Rs Rs 83,000 crore investment plans in neighbouring Orissa, including a 2,000 MW thermal power plant.
