NTPC to start work on Rs 1,000-cr Assam project on Thursday

State-owned NTPC will start the Rs 1,000-crore expansion project of its Bongaigaon power plant in Assam on Thursday for meeting the growing power requirement of the region.

"NTPC is expanding the capacity of its 750-MW power plant in Bongaigaon, Assam by 250 MW at an estimated investment of Rs 1,000 crore," a senior government official told PTI.Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will lay the foundation stone for the expansion project at Kumguri village in the Kokrajhar district. Minister of Mines and Department of Development of North Eastern Region B K Handique has been invited to take part in the ceremony."It will be the first 1,000-MW project of NTPC in Assam and will contribute significantly to meet the growing power requirement of the region," the minister said in an invite to Handique.

NTPC plans to raise its power generation capacity to 50,000 MW by 2012, from the current 31,704 MW. It further plans to augment this capacity to 75,000 MW by the end of fiscal 2017.Current installed power capacity of the country stands at over 1,59,000 MW and the government plans to add another 78,000 MW by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12).