Centre's consent needed for FDI in power: Minister

Chennai, Apr 3 (UNI) Tamil Nadu will attract foreign investment to the tune of Rs 1,60,000 crore to generate 40,000 MW of power if the Centre gives its nod for signing MoUs, Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy told the state Assembly today.

Replying to the debate on the demand for grants for his department, he said about 26 firms from countries like US, Germany, Russia and Finland have evinced interest in setting up power plants in the state to produce 40,000 MW of power.

''Chief Minister M Karunanidhi will be writing to the Centre in the next one or two days seeking its permission for setting up the plants under the MoU agreement'', he said.

''If the Centre gives the green signal, the state will stand to gain foreign investment to the tune of Rs 1,60,000 crore and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) will gain Rs 3000 crore in terms of five per cent wheeling charges by selling power to other states'', he added.

Stating that all efforts were being made to make Tamil Nadu the only state providing electricity to all villages, Mr Veerasamy said 98 per cent of the 1.42 lakh villages in the state were provided with power supply.

Electrification of the remaining villages, situated in remote habitations and hilly areas, would be completed this year using the Non-Conventional energy sources, he said and added that this would make the state number one in the country in providing electricity to all villages.

MORE UNI