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The Centre has assured help to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) to realise dues for expenditure incurred by it on projects which were taken away by state governments and handed over to private parties.
Sources said this was stated in the memorandum of understanding signed by the corporation with the ministry of power recently.
According to the MoU, the ministry of power shall take up this issue in an appropriate forum like the Planning Commission or power minister’s conference so that the dues could be realised without further delay.
The power ministry has said the targets set in 2011-12 MoU had been met and the achievement of the corporation had been graded as “good”.
The corporation, which was accorded Schedule A status in 2008, produces 55 per cent of the total effective installed capacity of the Northeast. It has assured the ministry that it will make full efforts to realise its dues from the states in order to bring down its sundry debts.
The ministry has assured the corporation that it will assist it in prevailing upon state governments to clear the dues under the scheme of tripartite agreements.
The corporation is at present constructing four more projects, which will add another 917MW to its installed capacity.
The ministry would also assist Neepco in obtaining soft long-term bilateral and multilateral external financial assistance to help it execute projects in the region. This apart, the ministry would help the corporation get projects in the region or anywhere in the country and abroad.
The investment approval for Agartala Combined Cycle Extension Project (2 x 23MW) in Tripura has been received last month at an estimated cost of Rs 296.87 crore. The ministry has assured the corporation that it will talk to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas for augmenting gas supply to its gas stations for ensuring targeted generation.
According to the agreement, the corporation plans to achieve total revenue of Rs 1,242.02 crore during 2012-13 and earn a net profit of Rs 169.24 crore.
The Centre will provide a net budgetary support of Rs 134 crore for total plan expenditure of Rs 1,371.79 crore in accordance with the proposed plan allocation for 2012-13, which the corporation plans to invest in various schemes subject to investment sanctions.
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