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In 2005, when India was suffering from inadequate availability of natural gas, Tripura was sitting on a huge, idle reserve of gas.
Though gas was sold at a concessional rate — compared with the rest of the country — in this land-locked hilly North-Eastern State, there was hardly any demand for the same, due to near absence of industrial and commercial activities.
There was not much scope to sell the gas in the adjoining State of Assam either. The remoteness of the region made proposals to transport the gas to the industrialised parts of country, economically unviable.
In the prevailing situation, exploration and production (E&P) company, ONGC, had little choice other than to cap a large number of its wells, capable of producing no less than 5-6 million standard cubic metre of gas a day.
Lost opportunity
ONGC was losing heavily, due to the low return on investment in developing these assets. Leave alone the prospect of turning the State into an industrial hot-spot, Tripura was losing the opportunity of earning royalty on production of gas.
Things have changed dramatically since then. ONGC, through its subsidiary ONGC Tripura Power Company Ltd (OTPC), is now setting up a 2 X 363.3 MW gas-based power plant at Palatana, in Tripura. Dubbed as one of the largest investment proposals in the entire N-E region, the first unit of the Rs 3,500-crore project is scheduled to be operational by end-2011.
Apart from meeting local demand, bulk of the generation will be wheeled away to the consuming centres of the country.
To add to the momentum, the North Eastern Electric Power Company (NEEPCO) is implementing a 104 MW gas-based unit in the State.
From a power-deficit State, Tripura is now set to emerge as hugely power surplus, creating ground for industrial growth and the economic prosperity. Increasing demand for gas has led to a surge in fresh investments in the E&P sector in the State.
The industrial activity also played a vital role in improving the regional cooperation between India and Bangladesh, paving way for a fresh set of transportation logistics options between Tripura (as well as the North-Eastern region) and the rest of the country, through the foreign territory.
Improved outlook
The importance of the OTPCL project lies in breaking the vicious cycle of under-development in Tripura. The improved outlook has already started reflecting on the flow of industrial investments into the State, in the last three years.
The State has bagged approximately Rs 350-crore worth investments in at least two large projects: a steel cold rolling mill and a rubber thread unit. Both projects are power intensive and are expected to serve the export market in Bangladesh.
The prospect of the availability of power has attracted investments in medium scale projects such as cold storage, TMT Bars/Rods/Flats unit, cement plant, tea processing factories and others.
The flow of large investments has resulted in major growth in the small and micro industries sector.
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