The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) of Sri Lanka and India’s state-run NTPC have inked a deal to build a 500MW coal power plant in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

The plant will be constructed at an estimated cost of $700m, of which CEB and NTPC will provide $250m each.

India will also provide a $200m concessionary loan to build associated plant infrastructure.

The new power plant will be constructed in two phases by 2017 and provision is also to be made to expand the capacity to 1,000MW in the future, reports Reuters.