Mpseb To Hand Over Control Of Birshinghpur Plant To Ntpc

The Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board (MPSEB) has chalked out plans to hand over the managerial control of the Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Plant at Birshinghpur to the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

Moreover, the state government has given the final shape to the process of signing a memorandum of understanding with MPSEB and NTPC for commissioning of the 500 MW power generation plant at Birshinghpur, sources said.

Meanwhile, reports from Shakti Bhawan (Jabalpur) -- the headquarters of MPSEB - say that another power plant at Chachai in Amarkantak will be handed over to NTPC.

The Sanjay Gandhi Power Plant has a total installed capacity of 860 mw with four units of 210 mw each and a 20 mw hydel power generation unit.

 

The Chachai power plant has an installed capacity of 290 mw with two thermal power generation units of 120x2 mw capacity each and two hydel power generation units of 20 mw and 30 mw, respectively.

They have said that state energy secretary Dhiraj Mathur, MP Power Generation Company chairman T Lalwani and power project executive D N Prasad are holding talks.

Both the parties -- the Madhya Pradesh State Electricity Board and National Thermal Power Corporation -- had discussed the draft resolution of management control of the plant recently, said sources.

The sources have informed further that the MPSEB has a plant utilisation factor (PUF) of nearly 65 per cent, while NTPC has a PUF of 92 per cent and the handing over of the managerial control will improve the efficiencies of the plants.

The draft resolution of the memorandum of understanding says that after handing over the control, the MPSEB will have 2/3 of the manpower at the plant, while NTPC will have 1/3 manpower in it.

One special duty officer at Shakti Bhawan declined to comment and said, "We do not have any information about the handing over of the managerial control of plants. But the state government may enter into a joint venture with NTPC for setting up of the 500 mw power generation unit at Birshinghpur." The chairman of the board, S K Dasgupta, was not available for comment.