Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya in the budget tabled on Thursday proposed to set up four new super-critical thermal power units to boost power production as part of the Mamata Banerjee government's focus on infrastructure development.
"As part of continued priority for assured power supply to our domestic and industrial consumers, I propose setting up four new Super Critical Thermal Power units in Santaldih, Bakreshwar and Durgapur at an aggregate capacity of 2,920MW (megawatt) with an estimated cost of Rs 23,360 crore spread of next four years," Bhattacharya said on the floor of the Assembly while presenting the budget for 2024-25 fiscal year.
"I propose to allocate Rs 100 crore to start the project activities," she added.
Supercritical thermal power plants operate at steam conditions beyond the critical pressure and temperature of water, reducing the carbon footprint.
A source in West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) said out of four new thermal power units, two with a capacity of 800MW each will come up in Purulia's Santaldih and two others at Birbhum's Bakreswar and West Midnapore's Durgapur thermal power plants with a capacity of 660MW.
"This is the first time in the state when all the four new thermal power units come up in public-private partnership (PPP) mode," said the official.
Currently, Bengal has 19 thermal power units across Bengal with an aggregate power production capacity of 4,625 MW. The state produces 1,000MW more from other units, including hydro and solar.
If the four new units start operations, the state's total power production will be 8,545MW.
Bhattacharyya announced a 3.1km bridge Ganga Sagar Setu over river Muriganga connecting LOT 8 and Kachuberia of Sagar island in South 24-Parganas, worth Rs 1,200 crore. It will reduce travel time to six minutes from at least one hour for lakhs who visit Gangasagar.
"This will bring one of the most important pilgrimages, Gangasagar, within everyone's reach," Bhattacharya said, sanctioning Rs 200 crore for the first year with the pledge to complete the bridge in the next three years.