Bhutan's Prime Minister to visit India tomorrow

New Delhi, July 13 : Bhutan's first democratically elected Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley will arrive here on Monday on a four-day visit.

Thinley will be accompanied by a high-level delegation including Foreign Affairs Minister Ugyen Tshering, Economic Affairs Minister Khandu Wangchuk and Finance Minister Wangdi Norbu.

Thinley will call on President Pratibha Patil, Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. He will also meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani.

His visit was preceded by official level talks on developing Tala Hydropower Project to India and Bhutan. The issue came up during Dr. Singh's recent visit to Bhutan.

The Tala power project, which was commissioned on March 30, 2007, is expected to further boost the tapping of the estimated 30,000-megawatt of hydro-power resources that Bhutan possesses. As of now the identified techno-commercially feasible potential is about 23,500 megawatt out which only 1488 megawatt installed capacity is exploited at present.

After completion, the project will generate 4865 million units of power in an average year. It would also provide 1122 megawatt of peaking power throughout the year.

Surplus power generated from the project will be exported to India through 400 KV transmission lines to a pooling point in Siliguri, and from there to India's Eastern and Northern Grids.

ANI