PTI reported that Damodar Valley Corporation expects to commission the first unit of Ragunathpur thermal power unit in Purulia district of West Bengal by March next year.
Mr JK Singh chief engineer of Ragunathpur Thermal Power Station said that “The initial date for commissioning of the first unit was November 2010, but due to non availability of water we could not start the unit.”
Mr Singh however, said that recently the water connectivity work has begun for a 10 kilometer pipeline from Panchet dam to the plant site. The project has been delayed by 18 months due to problems in land acquisition.
He said that the second unit of the fist phase is expected to be commissioned in the middle of 2013.
The first phase of the thermal power project consists of 2 units of 600 MW each. The project is yet to acquire 400 acres of land for rail corridor and township from the state government out of the total 2,098 acres needed for the 2520MW thermal power project.
The entire project is due to be completed by 2017.
Mr RN Sen chairman of DVC said that “Rural Electrification Corporation is likely to finance bulk of the INR 6,300 crore loan for the second phase of the plant.”
Meanwhile, the financial closure of the INR 9,089 crore project is expected soon. DVC aims to add 3520 MW in the 12th Plan period to become 10,729 MW company by 2017.
