The Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB) and NTPC have signed a joint venture agreement (JVA) to set up, operate and maintain a 1980 MW coal-based thermal power plant at Nabinagar in the Aurangabad district. The JVA was signed by the BSEB Chairman Swapan Mukherjee and NTPC Chairman-cum-Managing Director T. Sankaralingam.Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, was also present during the signing of the JVA which involves an investment of around Rs 9000 crore for setting up the plant. Talking to reporters after the JVA was signed the NTPC Chief and Kumar said, "The joint venture shall have equal participation between NTPC and BSEB with power allocation to the BSEB up to 75 per cent and 25 per cent of power remaining with the JVA, which will be distributed to other states. Kumar said the state needed a major shift in planning strategy as it has alarmingly low per capita power consumption." Both NTPC and BSEB will have equal shareholding in the proposed joint-venture company. Nitish Kumar said, it was necessary to attain the national average of per capita power consumption for ensuring all-round growth of the state. Kumar said the JVA would help in building the economy of the state and asked the BSEB workers not to proceed on strike over division of the board and said the state government had initiated a number of measures to improve the power scenario as well as working conditions of the employees. Sankarlingam said out of Rs 9000 sanctioned for the Nabinagar project, equity share of the BSEB and the NTPC will be to the tune of Rs 1350 crore each and the rest will be raised through market borrowings.
Source: saharasamay.com
Source: saharasamay.com
15th February, 2008