New Delhi, September 22:If bijli and sadak are the new buzzwords in the Indian economy, nothing better illustrates the long road ahead than a short stretch in Kasara Ghat on National Highway 3 between Mumbai and Nashik. Here, sadak stands in the way of bijli: for three months, a 200-wheel trailer carrying critical components of the most advanced turbine for an Indian power plant is stuck here because the road wasn’t upgraded and so couldn’t take the load.

The result: National Thermal Power Corporation’s 1980 MW power plant in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, for which this turbine was imported, cannot be completed on time. And, of course, the stuck trailer has set off a daily traffic nightmare.

This turbine meant for the first unit of NTPC’s Sipat I project, imported from Power Machines of Russia, arrived in the Mumbai port more than six months ago and, according to official records, the turbine generator “box up” (installation) should have been completed by August 2007 so that the first unit could be commissioned by April 2008. Two similar turbines for the project are on their way from Russia and will have to take the 1250-km journey to the project site.

The stranded trailer carries 70 per cent of the turbine components which include the heaviest part, the 370-tonne stator — the remaining 30 per cent are still at the port.

Speaking to The Sunday Express, T Sankaralingam, Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC said: “The trailer is stuck in Kasara Ghat because the National Highway Authorities of India is yet to upgrade the road to take such a load of both machine and vehicle. They had done a survey of what was needed to transport this machinery one to two years ago.”

For, besides the colossal weight, size is an issue too: such a turbine is estimated to be at least 32 feet high long, 14 feet high and 13 feet wide. This entails an upgrade that involves shearing the rock faces on sections along the highway and strengthening bridges, reinforcing culverts along NH 3 which goes from Mumbai to Agra.

When contacted, an NHAI spokesman said: “We are studying the NTPC proposal of cutting rocks and widening the road by about 1 m. However, after we give the technical clearance, the state government has to give its approval.”

An added significance is that such a turbine is being used for the first time in the country. For, the Sipat I project is the first power plant to use new supercritical technology (where each unit size is either 660 MW or above) as against traditional 500 MW units. These 660 MW units deliver cheaper power on account of economies of scale.

The turbine for a 500 MW unit is lighter by as much as 60 tonnes and can be transported by rail as well.

The 660 MW turbine unit, however, has to be transported on specialized trailers with as many as 200-250 wheels over a distance of 1250 km.

This raises questions over the projects in the pipeline — including the ultra mega power projects that will use the same super-critical technology. Some of these plants will use bigger units of 800 MW each. These weigh at least 100 tonnes more than a 660 MW unit.

Over to the NHAI.

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