NTPC to seek board’s nod for Raghunathpur DVC plant takeover

NTPC will seek its board's nod on the takeover of Damodar Valley Corporation's Raghunathpur thermal power plant in West Bengal's Purulia district.

"We are at a very advanced stage of the takeover process of the Raghunathpur thermal power plant and possibly will go to the board for approval," NTPC CMD Arup Roy Chowdhury said. He said even the cap price for the project had been decided with DVC chairman and the techno-feasibility report of NTPC would be negotiated for a final deal price to bridge the gap. Roy Chowdhury said the company would take over the entire Raghunathpur thermal power project, both phase-I and phase-II.

The first phase involves a 1,200 MW (2x600MW) thermal power plant, of which the first unit of 600 MW is ready, but the commercial commissioning is still to happen due to water, rail and road connectivity issues. "The water issue had been resolved with <g data-gr-id="23">acquisition</g> of five acres of land and work will be completed shortly. But, rail and road connectivity is yet to be completed and without that, commercial generation is not possible," a DVC official said. Reports that DVC had put order for plant and machinery for the 600 MW second unit of phase-I with BHEL and BMR could not be independently confirmed by the corporation.

DVC had proposed the (660x2) 1,320 MW power plant in the second phase and the <g data-gr-id="17">cash strapped</g> power utility was scouting for buyers carrying a debt burden of around Rs 30,000 crore and around Rs 10,000 crore arrears.