Haryana Power appoints consultants for Panipat thermal power units

The Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd (HPGCL) has provided a thrust to the process of renovation and modernisation of 110 Mw units 3 and 4 of the Panipat Thermal Power Station, by appointing consultants for carrying out the Rapid Social Assessment (RSA) and Environmental Audit and Due Diligence (EADD) of the project.

Giving further details, Managing Director of HPGCL, Sanjeev Kaushal said loan agreement of $180 million (about Rs 824 crore) was signed on December 17 in New Delhi between the World Bank and the central government under Coal Fired Generation Rehabilitation Project, for upgrade of coal -fired generating units in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Haryana.

He informed that for RSA, HPGCL had appointed SMEC India Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon, an international consultancy firm currently engaged in rendering consultancy services for various infrastructure development projects in India and other South Asian countries. Elaborating further, he said for EADD, ENZEN Global Solutions Pvt Ltd, Bangalore, an international consultancy firm in the field of business process analysis and re-engineering, operations & maintenance and performance management had been appointed as consultant.

The objective of RSA is to carry out socio- economic and cultural analysis to identify the potential impact of the thermal power station on the immediate habitation.

This will be conducted in three months. Similarly, through EADD, the baseline environmental process of the power plant is established in order to ensure close monitoring so as to ensure compliance with regulatory environmental requirements. This activity will also be conducted within three months.