New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): With Assembly elections round the corner, the focus seems to be on Bihar.

After PM Narendra Modi's slew of development projects and the Centre's announcement of Darbhanga airport which will be operational soon, now, MoS, Power and fellow Bihari R.K. Singh has inaugurated a slew of initiatives in the state.

Singh, who is the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, New and Renewable Energy on Saturday inaugurated a host of community-focused facilities developed by the NTPC in Bihar in the vicinity of NTPC Barh (1320 MW), Nabinagar Power Generation Company Pvt. Ltd. Nabinagar (660 MW) and Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited, Kanti 610 MW).

Singh also inaugurated two Community Centres - Sahari and Sahnaura at Barh, Patna. He also launched a 3-km-long Meh-Indrapuri Barrage Road at Nabinagar, Aurangabad and the Main Gate Complex of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited in Bihar. The Centre says construction of these facilities and infrastructure will make life convenient for the locals, improve access and help reduce travel-time.

While inaugurating the facilities from Patna, Singh claimed that in the past 3-4 years alone, the Power Ministry has invested a whopping Rs 11,000 Crore worth of initiatives for electrification in Bihar.

Highlighting state-owned NTPC's Bihar thrust, the minister said, "It has given over Rs 12 Crore to AIIMS, Patna. NTPC is diversifying its portfolio into other ways of generating power and we have a vision to transform it into a true multinational company."

Virendra Kumar Singh, MLA from Nabinagar, who was present there, made a similar point, "These CSR initiatives of NTPC are a reflection of the government's vision for Bihar. This road is an important step towards national development as it will make commuting to Patna highly convenient."

NTPC CMD Gurdeep Singh, too, sought to highlight its Bihar focus, "Out of its total installed capacity of 62910 MW, NTPC presently has 6150 MW in Bihar. In addition, 3800 MW capacity is in the pipeline. We are also committed to undertake various CSR initiatives for the development of Bihar," added Singh.