First railway, NTPC power plant to come up in Bihar

The first joint venture plant of the Railways and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to supply power exclusively for the railways is ...

The first joint venture plant of the Railways and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to supply power exclusively for the railways is likely to be in place by 2007. With polls round the corner, though, both NDA and the RJD-Congress front are claiming credit for the project.

Union Power Minister Anant Geete and Rail Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone for the 1,000-watt project today. The first phase with 500 watt capacity is expected to start operation in 2007. The Railways has 51 per cent stake in the project while NTPC will control the operations.

Nitish said the Railways has been paying more than the market price to various state electricity boards. The new plant will bring down costs, he said. The plant will come up on 1,700 acres, bordering Jharkhand, in Bihar’s Aurangabad district. Coal for the plant is available within 200 km and NTPC officials said power produced in Nabinagar would be the cheapest available.

The Aurangabad Lok Sabha constituency is represented by Congress’ Shayam Singh. Singh says it was Rajiv Gandhi who approved the project and she has been following it up. Nitish and Geete, however, count it among the Centre’s achievements in Bihar.

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