Tripura to sell power to Mizoram and Manipur

Agartala, Aug 19 (UNI) The Tripura government has assured the supply of five MW power each to Mizoram and Manipur as soon as 21 MW thermal power unit at Baramura range in west Tripura comes up.

According to the state power minister Manik Dey, Finance Ministry had accepted the proposal of setting up 21 MW power station at 90:10 funding pattern and North Eastern Council (NEC) promised to release the due assistance.

Mr Dey said, the unit is likely to start operation in next 18 months and the process of power purchasing agreement with Mizoram and Manipur has also got underway. Besides Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur each would get 5 MW from the proposed power unit.

Regarding gas supply to the proposed power unit, the Minister said there would be no problem if the ONGC supplies allotted gas and the state's own generation would go up by another eleven MW.

At present, Tripura is generating only 76 MW out of the demand of 140 MW, Mr Dey added.

Meanwhile, the state government had asked Union Power Ministry to release fund under Accelerated Power Reform Development Programme (APRDP), meant for infrastructure improvement.

In a recent letter, state Power Minister Mr Dey urged Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to release the balance Rs 88 Crore under the APRDP.

The Centre allocated Rs 146 Crore for the programme and so far only Rs 58 Crore was released to the state, Mr Dey informed.

UNI