Ranchi, July 29: National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed an agreement with the state government today to set up a joint venture for the expansion and betterment of Patratu thermal power plant with CMD of the PSU Arup Roy Choudhury declaring that work on the ambitious project would begin in the next two months.
The new company will set up a 4,000MW greenfield project on land belonging to Patratu Thermal Power Station in neighbouring Ramgarh district. The project will have five units, each with an installed capacity of 800MW. Phase-I will have three units.
Today's joint venture agreement was signed by state energy department's principal secretary S.K.G. Rahate and NTPC's director I.G. Kapoor at a function presided over by chief minister Raghubar Das at the new auditorium of Project Building.
While the state government will have 26 per cent stake in the new joint venture company, the remaining 74 per cent will be with NTPC, as per an MoU signed between the two in Ranchi on May 3.
"The Jharkhad government will have cashless equity of 26 per cent. We would be providing 1,859 acres of land to the NTPC, of which 1,234 acres would be transferred in the first phase and another 625 acres in the second phase. The first phase will ensure expansion of (the Patratu plant) 2,400MW by 2019, followed by an additional 1,600MW in the second phase by 2023-24," Rahate told The Telegraph.
The new company (JV) will absorb the entire work force on PTPS regular rolls as on January 31, 2015. The state government would provide required water for existing as well as new units from the exiting reservoir, a communiqué issued by NTPC said.
The captive coal mine at Banhardih, allocated to Jharkhand for PTPS, would be re-allocated to the new joint venture company, subject to the final approval of the Union ministry of coal.
Mecon, Power Finance Corporation and SBI Cap are the transaction advisers and consultants for the formation of the JV.
NTPC CMD Choudhury, an alumnus of Ranchi's BIT-Mesra, said they had sanctioned Rs 8 crore for the project and had already selected a head.
Chief secretary Rajiv Gauba said the state government was keen to "break" the trend of projects being stalled after signing MoUs.
"In the next four-five years, Jharkhand is set to exploit its potential in the power sector. The state government is also serious about setting up power plants in Deoghar and Tilaiya," he added, referring to the projects abandoned by Reliance Power citing inordinate delays in various statutory clearances.
Patratu, which had an installed capacity of 840MW, is generating only around 100MW as most of its units have turned defunct.
Among the others who attended today's function were the chief minister's principal secretary Sanjay Kumar and JUVNL managing director Rahul Kumar Purwar.
