NTPC planing with Bhutan for hydel project
NTPC Ltd is Planning with the Bhutan Government for setting up a 620-MW Amocho hydro power project as a joint venture. NTPC is currently preparing the detailed project report for the project, estimated to cost Rs 3,600 crore.
Giving this information to newspersons here on Friday, the Chairman of NTPC, Mr R.S. Sharma, expressed the view that the majority stake in the Amocho project should preferably be with NTPC. NTPC, as it was pointed out, would also invite within a month or so bids for setting up the proposed 90-MW Rammam Stage-III hydro power project in Darjeeling hills in West Bengal. NTPC Hydro Ltd – a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC – would implement Rammam-III. “We are expecting to issue the notice inviting tenders for this project soon,” Mr Sharma said.
Project plans
The Rs 630-crore Rammam-III, a run-on-the-river project, was originally proposed to be set up by the West Bengal State Electricity Board, which also received the CEA’s techno-economic feasibility approval. However, in April 2005 the West Bengal Government handed over the implementation right to NTPC Hydro presumably because of its own not-so-satisfactory track record in implementing similar projects in Darjeeling hills.
NTPC is implementing three hydro-electric projects of a combined generation capacity of 1920 MW at an estimated cost of Rs 11,500 crore. These include Koldam project (800 MW) in Himachal Pradesh, Loharinag Pala (600 MW) and Tapovan Vishnugad (520 MW), both in Uttarakhand.
The company’s plans to set up two large hydro-electric projects, Etalin (4000 MW) and Attunli (500 MW), in Arunachal Pradesh suffered a set back as the State Government recently scrapped the approvals. It is reported NTPC refused to pay an upfront fee of Rs 5 lakh per MW for setting up the projects.
