Decks cleared for first biomass plant in NE

Guwahati, May 4 (UNI) The first biomass-based power generation plant in Northeast will be set up shortly.

West Bengal-based realtor group, Amrit BioFuels will set up a 10-MW biomass power plant at Baghjab in Jagiroad of Morigaon district in central Asom.

Asom Power Minister Pradyut Bordoloi, who visited the plant site yesterday, told UNI the new plant is expected to function from 2009.

''The state government's new power policy has attracted investors, and this is only the beginning,'' Mr Bordoloi said.

The Rs 70-crore project will produce power from bamboo dust and rice husk. While rice husk is available locally, the Jagiroad Paper Mill is understood to have agreed on providing the bamboo dust.

Faced with power shortage, the government has been scurrying to rope in private companies to invest in the power sector.

Announcement of subsidies and the formulation of the Power Sector Reforms and Restructuring Policy have encouraged private participation in non-conventional energy sector, the minister said.

Recently, Amrit BioFuels has set up a rice-husk-based power plant at Bankura in West Bengal, which is likely to be commissioned shortly.

UNI