Engineers hail state's `move' on power plant

BATHINDA: S
HT Correspondent

NTPC `UNPREPARED' TO TAKE UP GIDDERBAHA PROJECT, PLANT SHOULD BE BUILT BY PUNJAB, SAY ENGINEERS' BODY

: State electricity engineers are relieved at reports that the Punjab government may review the agreement signed with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for executing the 2,640-megawatt project at Gidderbaha.
The government hinted a few days ago that non-responsive NTPC had tested its patience long enough and the deal might be scrapped. The PSEB Engineers Association has welcomed this stance of the Parkash Badal government.

“When the deal was signed in October 2010, engineers had cautioned Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and the state government that NTPC's confidence of commissioning the first unit by 2015 was hollow,“ Baldev Singh, general secretary of the PSEB Engineers Association, included in a statement issued on Sunday. “We suggested that the Gidderbaha project be entrusted to the PSPCL.“

The association had highlighted in written communications to the government that NTPC was on a deal spree with the states to grab as much business as it can before competitive bidding became mandatory from January 5.

The NTPC, which had installed capacity of 34,854 MW in 36 years of existence, signed deals for generating more than 47,000-MW energy before the deadline. “Achieving this was beyond its capacity,“ Baldev Singh mentioned in the statement. “From October 2010 to December 2010 alone, it had signed deals for generating more than 37,000-MW electricity.“

The NTPC had a history of backing out of commitment to the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board, the association said. It raised the matter before the PSPCL management.

In 2005, the Centre decided to allocate 1,500-MW electricity to Punjab from the 4,000MW Lara thermal-energy station in Chhatisgarh but then the NTPC backed out of its commitment. It declined to release energy to Punjab from its unit 5 of the 490-MW plant at Dadri, for which a deal was signed in January 2002.

The NTPC was unprepared to take up the Gidderbaha project as well, said the engineers' association, and suggested that the plant be created in the state sector.

“All other new power plants in the state (at Goindwal Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, and Rajpura) are in the private sector,“ said Baldev Singh. “At least one should be in the public sector.“

No work has been done on the project after the NTPC signed the MoU with the government last year. The project was slated to complete in October 2014.