Work on NTPC-BHEL power project in Andhra to start soon

The first phase of the joint power project of the National Thermal Power Corp and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, at Mannavaram in Chittoor district, will be completed by 2011-2012 while the second phase is slated for completion by 2013-14, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said on Monday.

Reddy had earlier asked the joint venture, NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt Ltd, to expedite the establishment of a Rs6,000-crore power equipment manufacturing facility at Mannavaram, near the temple town of Srikalahasti.

The project's chairman and managing director, C P Singh, called on the chief minister on the assembly premises, where they discussed the arrangements being made for the foundation stone laying ceremony by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 6 September.

"Work on a mission mode and complete the project within the timeframe," Reddy told Singh.

The Chittoor project is bigger than BHEL's 30-year-old Ramachandrapuram unit, which has 200 ancillaries and an employment capacity of 5,500 people, Singh later told newspersons.

"The new project will enable setting up of more than 400 ancillary units and provide direct employment to 6,000 people," he said.

Reddy said the government has allotted 750 acres of land for the unit at Rs100 per acre, adding that instructions have been sent to state officials to lay a four-lane road at Mannavaram and connect it to the nearest highway so that machinery and equipment related to the project could move freely.