NTPC, on Tuesday, said it had drawn up plans to spend Rs.20,200 crore in the current fiscal for financing its expansion plans.
Addressing shareholders at the annual general meetinghere, NTPC Chairman and Managing Firector Arup Roy Choudhury said the company had a capital expenditure of Rs.19,926 crore last year. It had now decided to raise this to Rs.20,200 crore this fiscal (2013-14). The power utility added 4,170 MW of capacity, including 1,000 MW through its joint venture projects, in the last fiscal. The company’s power generation capacity had reached 41,187 MW.
Mr. Choudhury said the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) had restored coal linkage to the company's proposed 1,980-MW north Karanpura power plant in Jharkhand. The Coal Ministry had withdrawn fuel linkages to the NTPC plant in 2008 following a tiff with the Power Ministry over the location of the project.
The government also withdrew the de-allocation of NTPC coal blocks in Jharkhand — Chatti-Bariatu, Kerandari and Chatti-Bariatu (South).
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to dedicate the company’s Sipat thermal power project in Chhattisgarh to the nation on September 19. The 2,980-MW Sipat project has three units of 660 MW in stage I, and 2 units of 500 MW in stage II, which are already operational.
The western region States such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra contribute over 10,000 MW to the overall capacity.
Coal India Ltd., to start the process of coal block allocation, awarded four blocks to NTPC. Other PSUs, which have been allocated mines, include Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd., Odisha Thermal Power Corporation, Jammu & Kashmir State Power Development Corporation, Chhattisgarh State Power Gen Co Ltd., Andhra Pradesh Generation Co, Maharashtra State Power Generation Co, Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam and Punjab State Power Corp Ltd.
