Mamata lays foundation for 1,600 MW Power plant in Salboni, sets 18K MW generation target

Salboni: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday laid the foundation stone for a 1,600 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power plant at Salboni in West Midnapore district, asserting that the greenfield project marked a significant milestone in the state’s industrial and infrastructure development.

At the event, Banerjee stated that the state has set a target of increasing its Power generation to 18000 megawatts (MW) in the next few years and will be spending another Rs 48,000 crore for the same.

“When we came to power for the first time in 2011, we generated 2000 MW. Presently, we are generating 10000 MW. In the next few years, we will augment it to 18000 MW. Five new power projects are coming up,” said Banerjee while laying the foundation stone for a 1600 MW critical coal-based thermal power plant to be developed by JSW group at Salboni in West Midnapore.

In 2011, the total number of consumers in Bengal was 1.07 crore which now has gone up to 2.30 crore, accounting for a rise of 110 per cent. Hence, the demand is expected to further increase.

“The erstwhile Left government faced criticism due to frequent power cuts. Now, we have a round-the-clock power supply. We laid a 3.5 lakh km transmission line and have constructed 750 sub-stations. We spent around Rs 76000 crore for boosting the power sector.” said Banerjee.

She called the Salboni power project a “landmark project” in Bengal.” Twenty-three districts will get power supply from here. It is the first-of-its-kind project in eastern India and will be an environment-friendly project. It will be generating employment for 15000 people,” she claimed.

A 660 MW power plant at Santaldih in Bankura is nearing completion while two more units each with 660 MW capacity, are being set up at Bakreswar in Birbhum. Two more units each with 800 MW capacity are being developed at Sagardighi in Murshidabad, said Banerjee. The Chief Minister will be inaugurating a solar power plant at Goaltore in West Midnapore on Tuesday.

Banerjee said she believes in action. “Those that say that nothing happens in Bengal should see the progress; we prove it through action,” she added, reiterating that in the seven editions of the Bengal Global Business Summit proposals over Rs 19 lakh crore were received. Out of this, Rs 13 lakh crore has been implemented.

She said the Deocha Pachami power project in Birbhum, once operational, will reduce power tariff and ensure that there is no power shortage for the next 100 years.