Nitish's power pact for thermal plant in Bihar

Nearly five months after he promised that he won’t seek votes again if he failed to provide electricity in each and every village by the end of 2015, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took the first step in this direction for setting up a 1320 MW thermal power plant at Chausa in Buxar.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for a joint venture project by the Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited (BSPHCL), Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) and Bihar Power Infrastructure Company Private Limited (BPICPL) on Thursday in the presence of Nitish Kumar, Energy Minister Bijendra Yadav and other senior power officials.

Estimated to cost Rs 8,000 crore, the project will be completed in the next 40 months. As per the tripartite agreement, Bihar will get 85 per cent of the power generated by the project. The Nitish regime will support SJVNL in getting coal linkage for the 1320 MW (2x660 MW) thermal power plant which is coming up on 1081 acres of land at Chausa near Buxar-Sasaram road. Water for the project will be sourced from the nearby Ganga river for which the Central Water Commission (CWC) and Bihar’s Water Resources Department have granted approval for drawing a specified quantity of water from the river.  

“I am committed to provide electricity to the people,” said Nitish on Thursday, while arguing that providing power to every household was an arduous task as he will have to depend largely on central agencies which have to generate power through its two NTPC plants (coming up in Barh and Nabinagar).