The Central Government has chalked out an ambitious investment programme for expanding the power sector in the North East States entailing an investment of around Rs. 37,400 crore.
The plan includes setting up of 5,350 MW power projects by 2016.
Seeking to bring the North-East States into the national mainstream of developmental activities, the investment initiative of the Power Ministry plans to add 5,350 MW in the North-East, apart from the 3,926 MW which is under various stages of construction.
Officials in the Power Ministry said that PSUs such as NHPC and North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) have evinced keen interest in setting up power projects to harness the huge hydro potential of the region. NHPC is constructing a 2,000 MW project on the Subansiri river in Arunachal Pradesh and NEEPCO is putting up a 600 MW Kameng hydel project. The latter is also building the 1,500 MW Tipaimukh, one of the largest hydel projects, for which the detailed project report (DPR) had been prepared and the project would go on stream soon.
Subansiri (2,000 MW) and Kameng (900 MW) projects are under construction and the detailed project report for the Tipaimukh (1,500 MW) project is also ready.
BHEL and ONGC along with the Tripura Government are executing the 700 MW thermal power project at Palatana in the State. NTPC is also constructing a 750 MW thermal power project at Bongaigaon in Assam, which is scheduled for commissioning in 2012. The total installed capacity of the North-Eastern region is 2,285 MW.
