The Neyveli Lignite Corporation, in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd, will set up a 1,980 MW coal-powered thermal power project at Ghutampur in Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
The Rs.11,088-crore project to come up on 851 hectares will have three units of 660 MW capacity each and is expected to be ready by 2016.
An NLC release stated that Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal laid the foundation stone for the project on Monday in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Union Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakash Babu Patil and NLC Chairman-cum-Managing Director A.R. Ansari.
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Mr. Jaiswal said though there were constraints in coal availability, steps would be taken to meet the requirements of the plant. The Minister urged the Uttar Pradesh government to seek coal blocks instead of coal linkage.
Mr. Yadav said that his government would accord priority for setting up power projects. He urged officials to get ready at least one power unit by 2014.
NLC Directors B. Surender Mohan (Mines), R. Kandasamy (Planning and Projects), J. Mahilselvan (Power), S.K. Acharya (Human Resources) and Rakesh Kumar (Finance) attended the function.
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The NLC statement said that it had entered into a power purchase agreement with the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation. NLC recently set up a 250 MW power plant at Barsingsar in Bikaner district, Rajasthan, its first venture outside Tamil Nadu.