A decision to award the contract for supplying the equipment to the 2,000 mw super thermal power project would be taken at a board meeting later this month, corporation sources said.

The first unit of 500 mw would be made operational during the Ninth Plan period itself and the remaining units of 500 mw each coming up by the end of the Tenth Plan, the sources said.

NTPC has already faced a time slippage of over 15 months in the project, including in inviting bids and shortlisting of the equipment suppliers, due to delay in the commitment from the World Bank for funding about Rs 3,000 crore for the plant, they said. The multilateral lending agency had not given any commitment for the loan due to sanctions imposed on New Delhi due to its nuclear tests at Pokhranin may last year.