First unit of 500 MW likely to go on stream in December 2013 A consortium of banks has agreed to lend Rs. 937 crore for the 1,000-MW NTPL power project, a joint venture of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and the Tamil Nadu Power Generation and Distribution Corporation. The project is coming up at Tuticorin. The agreement was signed by NLC Director (Finance) Rakesh Kumar and Bank of India Deputy General Manager (Mumbai) S. Gunasekar on the NLC premises on Monday. The project would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,909.54 crore with the debt-equity ratio of 70.30. Sources in the NLC said the consortium of banks included Bank of India, Indian Bank and Central Bank of India. The NTPL had already tied up with another consortium of banks, led by Bank of Baroda, for debt amounting to Rs 2,500 crore. With the signing of the pact today, the NTPL had clinched the debt component for the project, amounting to a total of Rs. 3,437 crore. The sources said so far 70 per cent of the project had been completed and the first unit of 500 MW was likely to go on stream in December 2013 and the second unit with the similar capacity would begin operation in March 2014. The NTPL had signed a deal with the Mahanadhi Coal Fields Ltd, a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd, for fuel. The land for the project had been taken on a long-term lease from the VOC Port Trust, Tuticorin, the sources added. The power generated from the project would be shared among Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry for which power purchase agreements had already been signed with the Tangedco and the respective State Electricity Boards, the sources added. Those who participated included Deputy General Manager of Bank of India (Chennai) Swarn Das Gupta, Assistant General Manager of Central Bank of India (Chennai) V. Srinivasan, Indian Bank AGM (Neyveli) D. Jeyachandran, Bank of Baroda AGM (Chennai) A.K. Bhattacharya, and NTPL Company Secretary (Tuticorin) R. Jayasarathy. Project is coming up at Tuticorin Power to be shared with other southern States