The Centre has acceded to Bihar's request for a fresh look at its Dagmara hydel power project in Supaul.

The request was made during the recent visit of Union minister of state (Independent charge) for power and new and renewable energy Raj Kumar Singh.

'We requested the Union minister to look into our request for giving clearance to the project and cited points in support of our stand following which he agreed that the Centre would look into it,' state energy minister Bijendra Yadav said.

The development is important, as the Union minister during a news meet in Bihar had virtually ruled out any future for the project because of high capital investment required for it, which is likely to enhance the production cost at the proposed project.

The idea of setting up the 130mw hydel power project over Kosi in Supaul was conceived around a decade back and it has been estimated that it would require an investment of around Rs 2,500 crore. The project, however, has not moved ahead after the central electricity authority denied approval. The approval, in fact, is awaited since 2012.

Sharing details of the points which Bihar put forward in support of its stand for the hydel project, Yadav said several new technologies have come up using which the production cost can be brought down in such projects. He added that there are several foreign-funding agencies, which provide financial support for such projects that produce clean energy.

The state energy minister also pointed out that the production cost from the proposed hydel power plant was likely to come down after three to four years, as it didn't require recurring expenses which thermal projects need for purchasing coal to run them.

The Bihar government was also able to convince the Union minister about its long-pending demand of introducing universal rate for power, which states purchase from different plants to meet their requirement.

'During his meeting with the chief minister, the Union minister said any final call on this issue would be taken as per the recommendations of the committee, which has been drafted to look into the issue,' Yadav said.

Bihar has been pressing for the issue because it ends up purchasing power something between Rs 4 and Rs 5 per unit whereas several southern states were purchasing power at a rate of around Rs 2.50 per unit.

Bihar has been raising the issue in the conference of state power ministers and it plans to raise the same matter in the next conference of state power ministers, which is likely to be held in Rajgir in November.