The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) 726-MW project coming up in Tripura will help to resolve the power crisis in the electricity-starved northeastern region by 2012, ONGC officials said on Saturday. India's hydrocarbons exploration major has been setting up the gas-based power project -- its biggest so far -- in south Tripura's Palatana, about 65 km south of capotal city Agartala. The plant is expected to be operational by March 2012.
"The forthcoming power project would be the single largest investment of Rs 9,000 crore ever invested in the northeastern region of India," ONGC chairman and managing director R S Sharma told reporters here. "With the commissioning of the giant power project, the electricity requirement of the seven northeastern states would largely be met up by 2012," he said.
Sharma said that the Bangladesh government has agreed to allow India to use its waterways to transport the turbines and heavy machines for the power project, for which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone in October 2005. He said that India would develop a jetty in the Ashuganj river port in Meghna river in eastern Bangladesh, 31 km from Agartala and expand the road, if necessary, across the border, to ferry the equipment for the project.
"ONGC intends to ship the power generation equipment from the Haldia port in West Bengal to southern Tripura via Bangladesh in order to save considerable transportation time," a senior ONGC official said.
He said dispatching the heavy equipments by surface within India (through the mountainous northeastern states) is extremely difficult.
"A consortium comprising the US-based General Electric (GE) and India's state-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has been awarded contract to supply the all-important gas turbines for the thermal power project," Sharma said.
The first unit of the project with a generation capacity of 363 MW is expected to be operational by December next year. The power plant is being developed by the ONGC Tripura Power Co (OTPC), a new company formed for commissioning the project.
ONGC, also a public sector undertaking, has 50 per cent equity stake in OTPC. The balance is held by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Service (IL&FS) and the Tripura government. According to ONGC officials, the state-run Power Grid Corp of India Ltd (PGCIL), OTPC and the northeastern states would set up a 660-km transmission line at the cost of Rs 1,771 crore to hook Palatana with the national grid at Bongaigaon in western Assam. The much expected commissioning of the power project, a co-generation waste heat recovery power plant and ONGC's first major commercial project, has been delayed due to difficulties in transporting heavy turbines and machineries to south Tripura.
Sunday
INVESTMENT POTENTIAL IN NORTH EAST INDIA
INVESTMENT POTENTIAL IN NORTH EAST INDIA
The North Eastern region (comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) of India, which forms a part of East Himalayan region, is a place of magical beauty, bewildering bio-diversity with exotic flora and fauna. The region is nestled in myths and mysteries, love and legends and houses more than 150 tribes having a cultural amalgamate of ethnic people and races. The location of the region is strategically important as it has international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar.
The rich natural beauty, serenity and exotic flora and fauna and untapped mineral deposits of the region can facilitate the sustained industrial development in the areas of;-
1. Food Processing Industries
2. Tourism Industry
3. Agro-based industries
4. Mineral based industries
5. Horticulture
6. Sericulture
7. Floriculture
8. Electronics and IT
9. Pharmaceutical
10. Petrochemicals
11. Bio-tech Industries
12. Handloom and Handicrafts
13. Power Generation
14. Animal husbandry & leather based activities
15. Trade and Commerce
16. Designing and weaving
Any others activities can also be taken up through utilization of the existing resources in order to gainfully exploit the opportunities to generate substantial income and employment avenues.
The region is plagued by the insurgency related problems for the last 4-5 decades which is not congenial for any developmental process. Therefore, the State Governments should strive to create a congenial atmosphere by encouraging investments through provisioning of dedicated State forces for industrial security.
The North Eastern region (comprising the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) of India, which forms a part of East Himalayan region, is a place of magical beauty, bewildering bio-diversity with exotic flora and fauna. The region is nestled in myths and mysteries, love and legends and houses more than 150 tribes having a cultural amalgamate of ethnic people and races. The location of the region is strategically important as it has international borders with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China and Myanmar.
The rich natural beauty, serenity and exotic flora and fauna and untapped mineral deposits of the region can facilitate the sustained industrial development in the areas of;-
1. Food Processing Industries
2. Tourism Industry
3. Agro-based industries
4. Mineral based industries
5. Horticulture
6. Sericulture
7. Floriculture
8. Electronics and IT
9. Pharmaceutical
10. Petrochemicals
11. Bio-tech Industries
12. Handloom and Handicrafts
13. Power Generation
14. Animal husbandry & leather based activities
15. Trade and Commerce
16. Designing and weaving
Any others activities can also be taken up through utilization of the existing resources in order to gainfully exploit the opportunities to generate substantial income and employment avenues.
The region is plagued by the insurgency related problems for the last 4-5 decades which is not congenial for any developmental process. Therefore, the State Governments should strive to create a congenial atmosphere by encouraging investments through provisioning of dedicated State forces for industrial security.
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