NPC plans 8000 MW plant in Sindhudurg

Finally, a solution to the bugging problem of the state's power shortage is in sight, with Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) having identified Joytapur in Sindhudurg district, near Rajapur, for its huge power plant. The plant will have a capacity of 6,000-8,000 megawatt (MW).

NPC officials on Monday had a meeting with the state chief secretary, Prem Kumar, who assured them that the state government would extend full cooperation to the corporation in setting up the power plant and help it resolve issues like land acquisition, water supply and approach roads.

"NPC is going to construct seven plants at seven different sites in the country, and it would be one of these plants that is coming to the state. To ensure that NPC takes up the Maharashtra project on a priority basis, we had assured its officials that the state government would arrange for 1,250 hectors of land within the next one and a half years," state's energy secretary B P Pandey told newspersons.

Thereafter, it would take NPC another five to six years to commission the plant. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs 13,000 crore, he said.

Besides this, GAIL India has just short-listed seven companies for its Dahej (Gujarat)-Uran gas pipeline. This pipeline, expected to be commissioned by 2007, would ensure a steady gas supply to the Uran power plant, Pandey added.

Due to the scarcity of gas, Maharashtra Power Generation Company has not been able to run its Uran plant at the full capacity of 800 MW so far.