The Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, NTPC
chairman-cum-managing director T Sankaralingam and
energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, were present at
the bipartite agreement for the super thermal power
project estimated to cost Rs 9,000 crore.
According to Sankaralingam the work will start by
March or April and the first unit of 660 MW will be
commissioned in 51 months time. The second and third
unit will be commissioned after the gap of every six
months. The cost of power will be cheaper––around Rs 2
per unit. The installation cost per MW will come to Rs
4.5 crore.
Nitish said that 75 per cent of the power generated in
Nabinagar will be allocated to BSEB and the rest 25
per cent to the joint venture company. The chief
minister also said that Kanti and Barauni were being
expanded to 500 MW each. In Kanti a new unit for 250
MW will also be commissioned within three years. He
said that some private sector companies have also
shown interest in power generation.
Nitish appealed to the BSEB workers to work with
dedication so that power availability be increased.
The debt-equity ratio of the company will be 70:30.
The equity will be financed equally by the NTPC and
BSEB which will come to Rs 1,350 crore each and the
loan portion is proposed to be financed from domestic
borrowing and bonds.
It needs to be mentioned that the former Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during his visit to Bihar two
decades back announced the setting up of a power plant
in Nabinagar, but the project failed to take off.