Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Wednesday said the state Government is looking forward to the start of scientific coal mining which will help to start the thermal power plant in the state.
Admitting that there are some environmental concerns, the CM said keeping in view the power requirement in the state, thermal power as an option and the state Government is working hard on that.
“We are working on thermal project because we have coal and we are expecting mining (of coal) to start in the scientific manner soon, we want to see thermal power as an option though there are some environmental concerns but looking at the power requirement and overall need for the state we want to look into that also,” Sangma said.
The Chief Minister while talking to mediapersons post budget presentation said the state Government will clear the power policy soon which will also focus on feasible and profitable power generation plan for the state.
He said another thrust area for the state Government will be projects like the Pump storage project which is a really great technology.
The Chief Minister also informed that the state Government will invest in the power sector as the private sector coming in will not be helpful.
“The state Government will have to invest in the power plants, private sector coming in is not helpful to us because it means we have buy power from them and ultimately it goes to the same thing why should we buy power from the projects implemented in our own state, so even without setting up of power plants we can buy it from the market.,” the Chief Minister said.
“So the challenge in front of us, the state Government and the MeECL is to invest in its own power plants and that we really want to do. The projects like Pump storage project which is a really great technology and we are working really hard on that. I am going to talk about the day we are going to clear the power policy which may happen next week. I will talk about the pump storage project,” he added.
The state Government is also looking forward to the wider usage of solar power.