New Delhi/Calcutta, Sept. 22: The Centre’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its clearance to the Rs 1,061-crore fourth stage of the Teesta low-dam hydroelectric project, to be set up in Darjeeling district.

The National Hydro- electric Power Corporation (NHPC) will take up the task, scheduled for completion in about four years.

The Centre will provide 75 per cent of the project cost, while the NHPC will give the remaining 25 per cent.

The project will involve the construction of a 45-metre-high concrete dam and setting up of four 40-mw units. .

The power generated will be for Bengal’s consumption.

State power minister Mrinal Banerjee welcomed the Centre’s decision.

“Once the entire project is completed, we’ll get 265 mw. We had been urging the Centre to greenlight the project for a long time. Finally, it has happened,” Banerjee said.

Power officials said on an average, between 3,000 and 3,100 mw is generated in Bengal, with the state electricity board producing around 2,200 mw and CESC 900.

“The 265 mw more will make a lot of difference,” an official said.

The project will also give a boost to the economy of the region, now caught in an ethnic strife. Work on the dam would generate at least 2,000 jobs.

“People living along the Teesta in Darjeeling district will get employment during the construction,” the official said.

The state power board had drawn up the preliminary plans for the project.

“We could not carry out the job because of financial constraints our government had been facing at that time. Later, the NHPC took up the job and work on stage III of the project is almost complete,” the power department official said.