CESC to invest Rs 20,000 cr to ramp up generation capacity

Kolkata, Jul 21 (UNI) Power utility company CESC today said it will invest Rs 20,000 crore in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal over the next six years to revamp its generation capacity.

'' We are looking at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore in the sector within the next six to seven years. Of this, Rs 10,000 crore has been earmarked for the state and projects that have been identified. We are also looking at Jharkhand and Orissa, '' Company Vice-Chairman Sanjeev Goenka told reporters after CESC's Annual General Meeting.

Of the Rs 10,000 crore lined up for the state, Rs 9,000 crore would be invested in setting up a 2,000 MW thermal power plant at Haldia in East Midnapore district, while the remaining Rs 1,000 crore would be used to set up the 250 MW third unit of Budge-Budge plant in South 24 Parganas.

The Hadia plant would come up in two phases on about 1,000 acre.

Land for the first phase would be available in the next three months, he said.

Coal linkages to Haldia is "moving fast" with Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee personally looking into the matter, he added.

Power generation from Haldia plant's first phase would be utilised to offset the 300-500 MW projected shortfall in the CESC command area. The generation from the second phase would be used mainly for exports, he said.

The company is interested in setting up a "pit-head" generation station in Jharkhand, Goenka said adding it would depend upon the coal block allocated to it.

CESC would not move ahead with any new project till the government allotted coal blocks to it.

'' We would prefer local coal and ideally like to have our own coal mines for which we have applied. We are looking at two or three blocks in Bengal and Jharkhand, '' Goenka said.

Goenka said CESC had bid for the Ultra Mega Power (UMP) project at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh. However, he said changes were required in the UMP policy since it is a grid-based concept.

Earlier, Goenka informed shareholders that CESC registered a net profit of Rs 177.47 crore during 2005-06, against Rs 147.20 crore in 2004.

The company had made a net profit of Rs 55 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, despite a reduction in power tariff, he said.

CESC has been able to reduce power pilferage by 60 per cent and Transmission and Distribution loss by seven per cent, he said.

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