Work on the much-delayed thermal power plant project is set to begin at last, with Union Minister for Power Sushilkumar Shidhe scheduled to lay the foundation-stone at Kudgi in the district on June 2.
The first project to be taken up in the State by the National Thermal Power Corporation requires 3,500 acres of land, of which 1,923 acre has already been acquired.
The NTPC officials held a meeting with the farmers on Saturday and cleared the way for acquisition of rest of the land by agreeing to pay a special compensation of Rs two lakh per acre.
The total amount of compensation per acre will be Rs 7.25 lakh for dry land and Rs nine lakh for irrigated land, General Manager Asimkumar Samanth told Deccan Herald.
A project office has also been set up on the site where a 4,000-mw capacity plant will come up. In the first phase, three units with a capacity of 800 mw each will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 15,166 crore. In the second phase, two units with 800-mw capacity each will come up.
The NTPC has signed an agreement with two companies – Toshiba of Japan and Dusan of Korea – on purchase of equipment worth Rs 6,087 crore required for the project in the first phase, and 162 cusec of water will be supplied to the plant from the Almatti reservoir.
Coal will be supplied through railways and the Centre has been requested to provide infrastructure required for the same at the earliest, said Samanth. The 2,400 mw power to be generated at the plant in the three units, will be distributed among Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puduchery.