Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100754440400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Funding for three power projects to be firmed up soon

T. Ramakrishnan

All the projects are coal-fired

CHENNAI: The funding arrangement for three power generation projects of 2,200 megawatt (MW), estimated to cost nearly Rs. 10,725 crore, will be firmed up shortly.

An enterprise under the control of the Union Power Ministry, the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), which has sanctioned the projects for the State, is expected to sign this week loan agreements with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), a special purpose vehicle floated by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and the TNEB.

Of the total cost of the projects, the REC has sanctioned Rs. 8,087 crore. All the projects are coal-fired. While two units of 600 MW each are to come up in the premises of the TNEB’s North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) at Athipattu (about 35 km north of Chennai), two units of 500 MW will be established at Tuticorin, the location of the NTPL project. [For funding purposes, the two additional units at the NCTPS are regarded as two projects].

The figures of the loan amount sanctioned by the REC are Rs.3,437 crore for the NTPL project; Rs. 2,475 crore for one additional unit at the NCTPS and Rs.2,175 crore for another unit.

In addition, the REC and the TNEB are to sign pacts for two more projects. One project envisages the establishment of 400 KV transmission lines between Pugalur and Kalivandapattu at a cost of Rs.878 crore and another relates to conversion of overhead lines to underground cables in the municipal corporations of Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and Madurai at Rs.1,132 crore. The loan amounts sanctioned by the REC are Rs.790 crore and Rs.1,019 crore respectively, according to a spokesperson of the Corporation.

In total, the REC will provide Rs.9,896 crore for implementing five power projects in the State.