The Dream of Punjab Deputy Chief Minister to make Punjab ‘Power- Full’ is nearing reality with Sukhbir Singh Badal making whirlwind tour of all three under construction thermal plants to personally monitor their progress. The visit of Deputy Chief Minister to this largest ever thermal plant with generation capacity of 1980 MW at the cost of Rs.11,000 crore assumes great significance because it would be the first thermal plant planned by SAD-BJP government that would be made operational next year. Talking to media persons, a beaming Deputy Chief Minister announced that he would personally inaugurate this Thermal Plant on April 13, 2013 (Baisakhi) sealing the lips of his critics permanently. He said that Goindwal & Rajpura Thermal plants would also be operational in year 2013 making the year 2013 powerful year in the history of Punjab.It may be mentioned here that the Talwandi Sabo power plant with Generation Capacity of 1980 MW being constructed at the cost of Rs. 11,000 crore is all set to be operational in April, 2013 and all the three units becoming operational by December 2013. The 540 MW Sri Goindwal Sahib Thermal Plant constructed at the cost of Rs. 3000 crore would be operational in May 2013 and 1400 MW Rajpura Thermal Plant being constructed by L&T at the cost of Rs. 8000 crore would start producing power by the end of 2013. Earlier , Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister accompanied by Power Secretary Anirudh Tiwari and Chairman Powercom K.D. Chaudhary reached the project site to personally inspect the progress of 1980 MW Thermal Plant that was in the kissing distance of completion. The Project GM Chetan Srivastav explained the Deputy CM that this project was awarded to Sterlite Industries of Vedanta Group. He said that the Erection, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract of this project has been awarded to M/s SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation, Jinan, Shandon, China.The Deputy CM was excited to see over 7000 engineers and workers working day and night to commission the project by November 2012. The Management informed the Deputy CM that 70% project has been completed. They informed that Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has been ordered to erect 400KV Talwandi Sabo-Nakodar, 400KV Talwandi Sabo-Muktsar, 400KV Talwandi Sabo-Mastewal & 400KV Talwandi Sabo-Bala Chak Transmission lines for evacuation of power. The General Manager also informed that Roads, Street Lighting, Plant Boundary Wall, Pile Foundation work, Soil Investigation, Area Grading, Foundations of Boilers/Electrostatic Precipitator/Main Pump House/Di-mineralised Plant/Switch yard/Chimney/Cooling tower/Comprehensive Water Pump House have been completed fully. Similarly, the construction of Chimney Slip form, Water Purifying House, Service Water basin, Chemical House, Inclined plate Filter, Wall construction of Wagon Tippler in Coal Handling Plant, Erection of Boiler 1 & 2, DM plant erection, Assay Building, Coal Handling Plant Crusher Erection and Electrostatic Precipitator erection has also been fully completed. He informed that Railway link culverts were under advanced stage of construction whereas Water conveyance works has been 80% completed. He said that the construction of Water reservoir, PVC & HDPE pipe laying was fully completed and Pipe laying for slurry disposal up to ash duct was also fully completed. The GM Informed that the construction of Hostel, Cooling tower shell, Chimney Shell, Wagon Tippler foundation, Comprehensive water pump house super structure, Raw water pump house structure, Raw water reservoir and Railway siding, Pipe Rack erection, Crusher House, Network Control panel erection, Central Control panel erection and Air Compressor erection was on the verge of completion and first unit of project would be operational in November 2012 whereas all the three units would be fully operational in June 2013. He informed that LOA has already been signed with Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited, Sambalpur for supply of 7.72 millon tonnes of coal per annum for the plant. Speaking about the expansion plan of the project the GM informed that the Company has already signed a MoU with the Government for setting up an additional 660 MW capacity plant at the cost of Rs. 3600 crore. He said that with the expansion of plant, this would be the largest thermal plant of the country producing 2640 MW power that has been set-up at the cost of Rs. 14600 crore. Expressing satisfaction over the construction of the project, Badal asked Secretary Power and Chairman Powercom to weekly monitor the progress of the project. He said that it was imperative for the project authority to stick to the schedule of the construction as they were answerable to the people of Punjab for any delay.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included Balwinder Singh Bhundar, MP , Chatin Singh Samaon, MLA, S.K. Roongta, Chairman TSPL, Philip Chacko, Chief Operating Officer, TSPL and Anup Aggarwal, Assitant Vice President ( Finance) TSPL.