NHPC, OHPC sign pact

NHPC Ltd and the Orissa government owned Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) will jointly implement three hydel projects in the state at an estimated cost of Rs 2600 crore.

The three projects are Sindol-I (100 MW), Sindol-II (100 MW) and Sindol-III (120 MW) and these are expected to be commissioned in 4-5 years. All the three hydel projects will come up on Mahanadi river.

The projects will be set up under the banner of a joint venture company in which NHPC will hold 51 per cent stake with the balance 49 per cent share held by OHPC.

The Orissa government, OHPC and NHPC on Thursday entered into an MoU for implementing the projects. The MoU was signed by the state energy secretary G Mathivathanan, NHPC CMD ABL Srivastav and OHPC managing director Sahadev Khatua.

The entire 320 MW of power will be fed to the state grid. Orissa will also get 12 per cent free power from the three hydel projects and one per cent of the cost of power generated will be spent on peripheral development activities.