Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) aims to commission the first phase of its Raghunathpur thermal power project by March next year.

J. K. Singh, chief engineer at Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station (RTPS), said, "The first unit - the first supercritical thermal power plant in (West) Bengal - will be commissioned by the end of this fiscal or early next fiscal."

Phase I of the project was initially scheduled to be completed by November 2010. As per Singh, the first phase of the project could not be completed in time due to the company's failure in acquiring land required for rail linkage and water connectivity.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony of foundation-laying for the second phase of the project, he added that the second phase of the project would be completed six months after the commissioning of the first unit of the project.

Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of State for Power, laid the foundation stone for the second phase of the RTPS.

The Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station is located nearly 250 kilometers South-west of Purulia district of West Bengal. The first phase of the project has two units of 600 MW each, while the second phase will have two units with of 660 MW each. The first and second phases of the project will cost nearly Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 9,000 crore, respectively.