BHEL, Era delay Simhadri STPP-II

Efforts by NTPC to persuade its contractors to hasten the pace of work at its 2x500 MW Simhadri super thermal power plant (STPP) seem to be largely unproductive, as the project is still to achieve various important milestones, already critically delayed. The erring parties in this case are BHEL and Era Infra Engineering Limited.

• Delays have been observed in respect of poor progress in commencement of turbine generator erection, a responsibility attached to the civil vendor, Era, expects to start work only by this month, almost 10 months later than expected.  
• Further, BHEL's negligence in supplying equipment on time has added to deferrals faced by the project, in the form of boxing up of the turbo-generator set and completion of steam blowing, both, being pushed back to November, 2010. 
• Remarkably, inspite of these delays, the anticipated cost of the project has actually decreased. The power major now expects to complete this project at Rs 5038.53 crore, instead of the originally anticipated Rs 5103.39 crore. 
• The Simhadri TPP, located in the Visakhapatanam district of Andhra Pradesh, has an installed generation capacity of 1,000 MW commissioned in 2002, while the Phase-II expansion to the project involves two 500 MW units. State-run transmission major, Power Grid Corporation of India limited (PGCIL), is constructing the 400 KVD/C line from Simhadri to Vizag to evacuate power from the project.