The Bengal government will set up a 150MW solar power plant in East Midnapore’s Ramnagar after KfW — a German state-owned development bank — agreed to give a soft loan of Rs 600 crore, state finance minister Amit Mitra said at Nabanna on Tuesday.

“In addition to the Rs 600 crore loan, the state government would invest Rs 150 crore. The plant would be set up on a 562-acre plot owned by the government. The land is a salt flat plot and it could not be used for any other purpose,” said Mitra.

The minister also said setting up of any structure on the land — located near the sea — required CRZ (coastal regulatory zone) clearance and the state government had already secured it.

The project — to be executed by the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd — would be set up through a proper tendering process under the EPC method.

The contractor is made responsible for all the activities from design, procurement, construction, to commissioning and handover of the project to the end-user under the EPC method.

“Once the EPC is done, we will get to know how many employment opportunities would be generated in the project. This would be the biggest non-conventional power plant in eastern India. Significantly, the unit would generate power during the peak hours—between 10 am and 4pm—and it would be supplied to the grid,” said the minister.

The minister also said the state government would get a three-year moratorium on the repayment of the soft loan and the amount had to be repaid in the next 12 years.