PM to dedicate power & railway projects tomorrow

Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate a Rs 400-crore permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur, power projects worth Rs 28,978 crore and National Highway projects built at a cost Rs 2,045 crore during his one-day visit to Odisha on February 3, official sources said.

The Prime Minister is also scheduled to inaugurate the redeveloped Sambalpur station and Talcher-Sambalpur doubling project (168.2 km) at a cost of Rs 2,193 crore. He may also inaugurate the newly-constructed Sonepur station and flag off a train on Bolangir-Sonepur section (47 km) of Khurda Road-Bolangir new line (301 km) project. Once inaugurated, Sonepur will get rail connectivity, an official said.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Thursday said the Prime Minister on Saturday will dedicate three transformative highway projects built at a cost of Rs 2,045 crore. The projects are four-laning of Biramitrapur to Brahmani bypass end section of NH-143 covering 24 km and built at a cost of Rs 679 crore; four-laning of Brahmani bypass end to Rajamunda Section of NH-143 spanning 47 km with an investment of Rs 538 crore in Sundargarh district and four-laning of Rimuli to Koida Section of NH-520, stretching 42 km, developed at a cost of Rs 828 crore, in Keonjhar district.

The NHAI also said that the highway sections of NH-143 from Biramitrapur to Brahmani bypass and Brahmani bypass end to Rajamunda include a four-lane flyover at Vedvyas and the long-awaited 473-metre-long six-lane bridge over Brahmani river. The project provides enhanced connectivity to Rourkela, the region’s industrial hub, and Jharkhand.

It will reduce travel time, easing the movement of goods and people between the two States. Besides, it will also facilitate smoother traffic flow to the district headquarters and Jharsuguda Airport through Biju Expressway (SH-10).

NTPC’s Regional Executive Director (Eastern Region I & II) Sudip Nag said the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the NTPC Darlipali Super Thermal Power Station (2×800 MW) and the NSPCL Rourkela PP Expansion Project (1×250 MW) and lay the foundation stone of NTPC Talcher Thermal Power Project, Stage-lII (2×660 MW), with a total investment of Rs 28,978 crore.

Located in Sundargarh district, Darlipali Super Thermal Power Station is a pit-head power station with supercritical (highly efficient) technology and will supply low-cost power to its beneficiary States such as Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Sikkim.

The 250 MW project of NTPC-SAIL Power Company Limited was established in Rourkela Steel Plant to provide reliable power for the steel plant, which is vital for economic growth, he said.

He said the corporation, which is developing Talcher Thermal Power Project, Stage-III, within the old TTPS plant premises in Angul district, was taken over by it from Odisha State Electricity Board in 1995.

After completing more than 50 years of service, the old TTPS plant was decommissioned. The upcoming plant will have highly efficient ultra-supercritical technology-based units and approximately three times the capacity of the old TTPS plant. While 50 per cent capacity of this project is dedicated to Odisha, other beneficiary States such as Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Assam will also get low-cost power from this pit-head station.

This project is under construction with all modern environmental features like efficient electrostatic precipitator, flue gas desulphurisation, bio-mass cofiring, covered storage space for coal and help in lesser specific coal consumption and C02 emissions.