 "Odisha asked to pay towards Sundergarh UMPP land cost")
PFC has asked Odisha to pay Rs 47 crore towards Sundergarh UMPP land cost. As Odisha has been allocated 1300 Mw of power from Odisha UMPP, the proportionate amount to be paid by Odisha is Rs 47.25 crore,” it said in its letter last month.
The state energy department has forwarded the request to Gridco Ltd for taking further action. The request for payment came in January this year, within a month after Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (Idco) asked OIPL to submit Rs 145 crore as payment towards revised land cost and processing fee for acquisition of 2732 acres private land. The maiden UMPP with a capacity of 4000 Mw is coming up at Bhedabahal in Sundargarh district.
The project requires total 3245 acres, out of which 444 acres belong to the government, 68 acres are forest land and the rest is privately owned. The PFC subsidiary has submitted Rs 719 crore to Idco as part of private land cost. As Idco demanded additional amount in December 2013, the company had asked Odisha to submit its share of land cost by 15 January.
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The state government is yet to take a decision on the matter. Since no developer has been selected for the project so far, PFC along with nine states, which are scheduled to get power from the project, are bearing the land cost. Once the developer is selected, the states would be reimbursed the amount.
The Request for Qualification (RFQ) for the UMPP was issued on September 25 last year. OIPL has received applications from nine prospective developers- Adani Power Ltd, CLP India Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, JSW Energy Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), National Hydro Power Corporation Ltd (NHPC), NTPC Ltd, Sterlite Infraventures Ltd and Tata Power Ltd for the UMPP.The selection of bidder is being done as per the tariff based competitive bidding guidelines issued by the Central government on design, build, finance, own and transfer (DBFOT) basis.
Three coal blocks- Meenakshi, Meenakshi B and dip-side of Meenakshi with combined deposit of 838 million tonne have been allocated for the UMPP. Presently, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) is demarcating the coal blocks. Notification under Section 11 of Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act has been issued for the Meenakshi coal block.