Visa Power, Tata Power, Lanco Power, Monnet Ispat Power Company, Jindal India Thermal Power Limited and CESC Limited, the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) who had signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in 2006 have achieved significant headway on their proposed projects in the state in the past 4-5 months.
“Tata Power has said that it will complete the land acquisition process by October this year and kick off construction work by December. The company has paid about Rs 100 crore as compensation to the land losers. Similarly, CESC has acquired around 80 per cent of the land needed for their project”, P K Jena, the state energy secretary told Business Standard after reviewing the status of the IPPs.
As many as 27 IPPs have signed MoUs with the state government with a cumulative capacity of 32,420 MW.
Tata Power which had proposed to set up a 2000 MW power plant at Naraj in Cuttack district and needed 990 acres for the power plant. The company had been allotted the Mandakini coal block with a reserve of 96.84 million tonnes of coal.
CESC's 1000 MW power plant was to come up on 1094.13 acres of land at Neulapoi in Dhenkanal district. This includes 190.39 acres of government land, 20.76 acres of forest land and 822.98 acres of private land.
Visa Power which has proposed to set up a 1000 MW power plant at Brahmanabasta-Athagarh in Cuttack district as already acquired around 50 per cent of private land needed for the project. The company expected to acquire around 65 per cent of the private land by the end of this month.
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It has already been allotted 200 acres of government land. On the whole, the power project needed 1100 acres of land which included 309 cares of government land and the remaining being private land.
Lanco Power has acquired most of the land needed for its power plant and has achieved financial closure. The company is setting up a 1320 MW (2x660) power plant over 1400 acres of land at Khurunti in Dhenkanal district. It has been allocated the Rampia coal block with a reserve of 112.22 million tonnes.
Monnet Ispat Power Company Limited is almost through with the land acquisition work for its 1000 MW power project proposed to be set up at the Malibrahmani-Nisha-Chendipada stretch in Angul district on 993.42 acres of land. The company would lay the foundation stone for the project in October this year.
Similarly, Jindal India Thermal Power Plant (JITPL) has acquired 95 per cent of the land needed for its project and has also constructed the boundary wall which is 98 per cent complete. JITPL had proposed to set up a 1200 MW power plant at Derang near Talcher on 1055 acres of land. The company has been alloted the Mandakini coal block with a reserve of 96.84 million tonnes of coal.
Mahanadi Aban Power Company Limited which had not made much progress a few months back has paid compensation of Rs 80 crore to 70 per cent of the affected people. The power producer is setting up a 1030 MW power plant at Tehranpur near Talcher on 1035.98 acres of land.
The alternative sites for the power plants proposed by Viskha Thermal Power Limited and Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL) are yet to be approved. Visakha Thermal Power Limited which had proposed to set up a 1100 MW power plant on 1100 acres of land at Bhandari Pokhari in Bhadrak district but the location had to be changed as the proposed location fell in the irrigated area. JSPL had sought the change of location of its proposed 1320 MW (2x60) power plant from Boinda to Paranga in Angul district.
The location for Kalinga Energy and Power Limited's 1000 MW power project had to be changed from Babuchakuli in Sambalpur district to Sodamal in Jharsuguda district. This had to be done as the 1100 acres of land identified at Babuchakli had 600 acres of forest land.
The IPPs that have entered into MoUs with the state government in 2009 and 2010 have also achieved appreciable progress.
Notification under Section 6 (1) has been issued for 362 acres of land for Sahara India Power Corporation's 1320 MW power plant to be set up at Titlagarh on 950 acres of land.
Maa Durga Thermal Power Company Limited which had signed an MoU with the state government in April 2010 for setting up a 60 MW power plant at Bianchua near Tangi in Cuttack district has acquired the entire 60-acre stretch of land needed for the project. It has also achieved financial closure for Rs 210 crore out of the total project cost of Rs 296.95 crore.