Asian Development Bank to give ₹1,540 crore for Tripura power projects

Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) Chairman and Managing Director Murhari Sopanrao Kele said the ADB would provide 80 per cent of the ₹1,925 crore ($275 million) Tripura power generation upgradation and distribution reliability improvement projects. The rest ( ₹385 crore) would be contributed by the state government, he added.

The Department of Economic Affairs (fund bank and ADB division) under the Union Finance Ministry had communicated it to TSECL and given its green signal to the ADB for taking appropriate steps, Kele told IANS.

Kele, one of the leading experts and analysts in power distribution sector in India, said under the ADB-funded projects, electricity generation at the Rokhia gas-based power plant in western Tripura would be increased from 63 MW to 120 MW at an estimated cost of ₹700 crore.

"Around ₹1,226 crore would be spent for upgradation of transmission, distribution, improvement and modernisation of infrastructure and renovation and upgrade of the Gumti Hydro Electric Project in southern Tripura," he said.

In June, the ADB had agreed to provide financial assistance for the ₹1,650 crore ($235 million) infrastructure development projects in seven of the eight district headquarters of Tripura.

Meanwhile, the government-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) is implementing the ₹1,372 crore World Bank-funded projects for development of power infrastructure in the state.

Tripura, a power surplus state, is supplying 190 MW to Bangladesh and 40 MW to Nepal.