Kokrajhar, Dec. 14: The second unit of the NTPC's Bongaigaon thermal power project at Salakati in Kokrajhar will be commissioned by March 2017.

Talking to reporters today, group general mana-ger, NTPC, Bongaigaon, Utpal Chakrabarti, said: "The second unit of 250MW is almost ready and we are targeting to commission it by March next year."

The steam blowing for the second unit was completed on November 30, he said.

"We are targeting completion of the project and commissioning the third unit by 2018 itself," Chakrabarti said. The first 250 MW unit was commissioned on June 21, 2015. "We have been operating the first unit since April 2016. The unit is operating with 99.9 per cent efficiency, resulting in environmental-friendly working atmosphere," he said.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone of the Rs 4,720-crore project in January 2006 on the premises of the defunct thermal power station of the Assam State Electricity Board. According to the original schedule, two units of the project were slated to be commissioned in 2011-12.

The project will use coal from Makum coal mines at Margherita in Assam and eastern coalfields spread over Bengal and Jharkhand.

Chakrabarti said the NTPC, Bongaigaon, has achieved total banking for the contractual labourers as part of government initiative for cashless transactions.

He also highlighted various works undertaken by the NTPC as part of its CSR activities, including construction of bridges, roads and healthcare.