UP to get 2,640 Mw additional power

In a major relief for power-starved Uttar Pradesh, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) will set up a thermal power plant of 1,320 Mw and add fresh capacity of 1,320 Mw to its existing 4x110 Mw Tanda thermal power plant in Ambedkarnagar district, according to sources in the state power corporation.

The district falls in the Akbarpur parliamentary constituency, earlier represented by Chief Minister Mayawati.

The new thermal power plant of 1,320 Mw is likely to be set up at Shankargarh in Kaushambi near Allahabad and it will be a joint venture between the UP government and NTPC. Both parties will share the cost of the project equally. All the power generated from the proposed thermal plant will be available to the state. Further action on the project will be taken from June 15.

The thermal power project in Shankargarh has been in the pipeline for over 15 years. The previous Samajwadi Party government had also taken it up with the Centre. Owing to the never-ending hostility between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, no tangible progress could be made.

If both projects materialise, it will be a big boost to the state's economy because it will add capacity of 2,640 Mw. The state's total installed capacity is 4,087 Mw and average generation is 2,500 Mw of thermal power and 300 Mw of hydel power.

In the Tanda plant, two units of 660 Mw are proposed to be set up by NTPC. NTPC Chairman and Managing Director T Shankar Lingam was in Lucknow to sign an agreement with the state government for the expansion of the Tanda plant.

However, the agreement could not be signed because the state government insisted on purchasing the entire 1,320 MW additional power to be generated from the Tanda expansion project.

Official sources said the NTPC CMD expressed his inability to guarantee that all the power from the Tanda expansion would go to Uttar Pradesh since this had to be decided by the Centre. The chairman, however, gave an assurance that if the Centre accepted the demand, NTPC would have no objection.

The state will soon take up the matter with the Centre. UP Power corporation sources said the matter would soon be sorted out.

The NTPC chairman also met Chief Minister Mayawati for ensuring the availability of land and water for the Tanda plant expansion. The chief minister assured him all support from the state government for both the projects.

The Tanda thermal power project was taken up in 1977 and commissioned in 1989. In 1992, the NTPC acquired the Tanda plant from the UPSEB. The state government had to hand over the Tanda plant to NTPC to settle the outstanding dues to the latter.