Centre agrees to set up two 500 mw power plants in Bihar

Patna, May 25 (UNI) To bridge the huge demand-supply gap of electricity in Bihar, the Centre has agreed to set up two 500 MW thermal power plants each in Barauni and Muzaffarpur during the 11th plan period, official sources here today said.

Both the plants to be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 2500 crores, including Rs 500 crores from the state government, is expected to be operational by 2010-11, the sources said.

They further added that formal letters of intent for both the units were likely to be issued by the Union power ministry within the next few months to start the work at the ground level.

The formal clearance of the dual project, whose necessity was discussed at a recently concluded regional meeting on the energy capacity building programmes in Kolkata, would come after the state government submits the environment clearance certificate within the next couple of months, the sources informed.

Regarding the avalability of land for both the projects at Baruani and Muzaffarpur, the sources said necessary land for both the units had already been identified by the state authorities and ruled out any problem of their acquisition from the local landowners or farmers.

All arrangements for making available the basic infrastructural facilities had also been made in the surrounding areas of the both the proposed plants and the work would begin soon as the necessary clearance was received, the sources added.

Incidentally, to meet the increasing demand for energy in the state, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) had commissioned the first of its three 500 mw unit at its Kahalgaon plant in Bhagalpur district earlier this month in presence of Union Power minister Sushil Kumar Shindhe.

UNI