By IANS,
Raipur : Energy companies will invest Rs.1.7 trillion ($42.5 billion) in Chhattisgarh to set up coal-fired power plants having a total power generation capacity of 42,000 MW, Chief Minister Raman Singh said Friday.
“In a bid to become the power hub of the country, the state has signed separate agreements with a total of 51 companies that will pump in Rs.1.7 trillion to generate 42,000 MW electricity,” Raman Singh said during his Independence Day speech at the Police Parade Ground here.
The highlights of the Independence Day function was a dashing cultural programme by students attired in colourful dresses and a show by sniffer dogs deployed in insurgency-hit areas to detect land mines.
He said the state had made all round progress in recent years, evident from the rising number of engineering and poly-technique colleges as well as expanding road networking even in the interiors.
“The number of engineering colleges has gone up to 31 from 14 four years back and poly-technique colleges to 13 from 10. They now have a combined enrolment strength of 10,000 engineering students,” Singh said in his 20-minute speech.
“In just the past one year, 7,361 km of roads have been constructed in addition to 300 km of road under projects funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB),” the chief minister said.