Power project work in full swing
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 28
Construction work on the prestigious 1200 (2X600) MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project at Khedar in Hisar is moving fast towards completion on schedule.

Overall 52.6 per cent of the work has been completed. The first unit of this Rs 4,338-crore project will be commissioned before December 2009 and the second before March 2010.

Claiming this here, a spokesperson for the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGC) said another major milestone of the project was achieved on December 22 when the generator stator of unit-2 was placed on its foundation.

The generator stator was one of the heaviest and most critical equipment of the 600-MW unit and weighs about 320 metric tonnes. The generator stator of unit-1 was placed on December 9 last.

He said over Rs 1,300 crore had so far been incurred on the project against a total cost of Rs 3,775.42 crore.

He said the project engineers were working dedicatedly towards the achievement of the next major milestone of boiler hydraulic test of unit-1, scheduled for March next.

He further said about 40 contractors and more than 5,000 workers were working round the clock.

The highest level of environmental health and safety standards were being maintained at the project site. The work of this thermal power project was awarded in January 2007.

A greenfield project of this size takes at least 39 and 42 months for commissioning. However, for this project an aggressive commissioning schedule of 35 and 38 months has been envisaged.

Moreover, this is the first project in the northern region to be awarded the mega project status with attached benefits under the mega project policy of the Centre.

With the commissioning of these two units, the state will be able to provide an additional 288 lakh units per day to its consumers.