State in talks with NTPC to hand over Gidderbaha thermal project

The state government is negotiating with power major National Thermal Power Corporation...

The state government is negotiating with power major National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to finally commission Punjabs biggest 2,640 mega watt thermal power plant proposed at Gidderbaha in Muktsar.

Dialogue with the NTPC continues simultaneously despite state governments priority to woo potential bidders to take over the project on build,operate,own basis. Top NTPC officials and Punjab Chief Secretary S C Agarwal have discussed the prospects of the plan,which was followed by a round of discussion between top functionaries of Punjab Power Corporation (Powercom) and the NTPC. Even as discussions are at a nascent stage,official sources said the deal could involve enhancing the generation capacity of the thermal project up to 4,000 megawatt.

Agarwal said: We will be glad if NTPC commissions the project. Our discussions are at a preliminary stage. We are also pursuing other options simultaneously and the decision will be entirely on merit. Top official sources said it was also discussed to redraw the percentage of power to be given to Punjab once the project is commissioned,and the rest to be left for use by the NTPC. The issue of coal linkage,which has been a major roadblock for the project,was also discussed. The government was of the opinion that the NTPC would be better placed than many others to negotiate coal linkages.

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Top officials in Powercom who did not wish to be named said the state was likely to overcome the problem of coal linkages in the next few months.

The Gidderbaha project now figures in the select list of thermal projects that stand to get the coal linkages,with or without NTPC,through the Union Coal Ministry, a senior Powercom official said.

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