North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd, a public sector enterprise, has made a desperate appeal to the Ministry of Power to ensure timely supply of balance equipment by BHEL for its 363.3-MW combined cycle power plant in Tripura. The power project, scheduled to be commissioned on open cycle by August this year, is lagging due to delay in equipment supply by BHEL.
In a letter to the power ministry, NEEPCO stated that BHEL had informed the utility that all items required for open cycle commissioning would be made available at site, progressively, by May this year so as to ensure open cycle commissioning of the plant by August.
BHEL had given a similar commitment to the Tripura government in April, based on which the state government has been regularly monitoring the progress of the project.
NEEPCO further informed the ministry that, at a meeting last month, it was noted that most of the commitments made by BHEL from time to time, at various levels, had failed and the targets for completion of various activities pertaining to design and engineering and dispatch of equipment had been repeatedly extended.
The power utility stated that there was an acute shortage of several critical items at site for commissioning of the gas turbine in open cycle mode, which was preventing the expeditious erection of works. Given the progress of engineering activities and status of manufacturing, particularly the balance-of-plant packages, many of these items are likely to be available at site earliest by July 2013, that is, if there is no further slippage.
Thus, the completion of supply of all items for open cycle commissioning is getting delayed by two months from the target. NEEPCO also informed that in some of the areas even civil works like foundations could not be taken up for want of engineering inputs from vendors.
Considering the present status, NEEPCO has said that it would not be possible to commission the gas turbine unit in August, as committed by BHEL, unless sincere efforts were made by the agencies concerned.