The Power Ministry is hopeful of receiving conditional forest clearance for coal to be mined in blocks attached to the proposed 4,000 MW UMPP in Orissa tomorrow, as invitation of preliminary bids has been hanging fire for a long time due to environment issues.
"The Ministry of Environment and Forests is likely to send the clearance report for the Orissa ultra-mega power project (UMPP) tomorrow... They have put certain conditions for the same," a senior Power Ministry official told PTI.
The MOEF may provide conditional forest clearance to the project, stating that the two coal blocks which fell in "no-go" areas will be only be given to two power projects, though three fall within the area.
"Two coal blocks may be pulled out of the no-go area, thereby allowing mining in those mines... But that is likely to be for only two projects," the official said, adding that there are three power projects being developed in that particular area.
One project is the 4,000 MW ultra mega power project at Bedabahal, the second one is an NTPC project and the third is a state government project.
The MOEF is believed to have asked the Power Ministry to decide which of these two projects should get the coal blocks, as providing mines for all three projects would be difficult.
"We will see what can be done after we receive the official documents from the MoEF," he added.
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Power Finance, the nodal agency for implementation of ultra-mega power projects in the country, has already postponed the process of inviting preliminary bids for the Orissa project till March next month.
This is the seventh time the bidding process for the project has been delayed due to environmental hurdles.
The MoEF had put three coal blocks allotted to the project -- Meenakshi, Meenakshi B and the dipside of Meenakshi -- in "no-go" areas, which means mining cannot take place in these areas, as it may cause damage to the environment.
This had resulted in delaying the bidding process for the project, as developers are shying away from committing their capital in the absence of the requisite clearances.
The government has so far allotted four UMPPs, of which three -- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) -- have been bagged by Reliance Power and the one at Mundra in Gujarat by Tata Power.
These UMPPs are going to contribute significantly towards the government's ambitious plans of adding about 1,00,000 MW of electricity in the next Five-Year Plan (2012-17).