<div><strong>By Simar Singh</strong></div><div> </div><div>Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Thursday laid the foundation for a new 800 MW unit of the state-owned Wanakbori thermal power plant in district Kheda. This will be the eighth and largest unit of the power station and will be set up by BHEL, drawing an investment of Rs 4,465 crore.</div><div> </div><div>Promising that the project would be completed by 2018, the chief minister accused the erstwhile UPA regime at the centre of setting back the project by six years by not issuing the necessary clearances required for its kick off.</div><div> </div><div>“We had sent an application to Government of India in 2009 for this project. Had timely environmental clearance been given, we would have been commissioning the unit today,” she said.</div><div> </div><div>The project promises to have lower emissions and coal consumption, as well as the bringing down of the per unit price of power produced at the Wanakbori plant.</div><div> </div><div>Speaking at the event, Gujarat Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said, “Today there are seven units of 210 MW each at this power plant. This unit will add another 800 megawatts and it will consume 25% less coal than the other seven units and will bring down the cost of power generation from Rs 3 per unit to Rs 2.40 per unit.”</div><div> </div><div>CM Patel further claimed that once completed the plant would add to Gujarat’s existing quota of surplus power, saying, “We currently have a power generation capacity of 24,000 megawatts and our peak demand is only 14,000 megawatts.”</div><div> </div><div>She also lashed at the opposition, saying that the BJP was bound to come back to power in the 2017 Gujarat state assembly elections. "The BJP-government is known for inaugurating all those projects for which we lay the foundation stone. I want to assure you that BJP will be in power in 2018 and I am confident that we will inaugurate this plant, for which we have laid foundation stone today,” Patel said.</div>
