NTPC awaits 1,600 Mw Katwa project handover

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is awaiting the transfer of the supercritical 1,600-Mw (800 Mwx2) Katwa power plant by the West Bengal government before it can take measures to implement the project.

NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury told PTI that the Rs 10,000 crore project is currently under state-owned West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDC) and the Navaratna power company has agreed to its takeover and has already signed the PPA.

The process requires a nod from the state Cabinet, he said.

The thermal power project envisages the acquisition of 1,035 acres of land, but the erstwhile Left Front government had able to acquire only 400 acres due to resistance from locals then backed by the Trinamool Congress (TC).

The present TC government has already announced that it will not meddle with land acquisition and the industry should do it themselves.

Asked about the problems of land acquisition related to the project, Roy Choudhury, who met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the recent past, said NTPC has its own rehabilation policy for land losers.

The rehabilitation policy is attractive enough for landowners to part with their land, he asserted.

However, if NTPC does not gets adequate land, it will realign the project, depending upon the situation, NTPC officials said.

With more power projects in the pipeline, NTPC would be able to offer West Bengal 3,000 Mw in the next 4-5 years, they said.

It would prepare a white paper on improvement of power generation and distribution in the state and highlight fuel shortage and the impact of imported coal on the tariff, the officials said.