To iron out problems of private investors in the power sector, the Madhya Pradesh government will soon come up with a policy to consider proposals by serious investors only. A number of companies proposed to set up more than 50,000 Mw of power establishments, but hardly a few were serious about their projects.
“We will soon come up with a policy that will define parameters for the investor’s seriousness about the project. There are certain processes which they have to follow. We will come up with the policy by December this year,” said SPS Parihar, secretary, department of energy.
At least 38 private players have proposed to set up projects at various locations in the state. Normally, they complain of problems in land acquisition and non-availability of coal and water on account of poor government support. In a number of cases, the private companies have withdrawn their projects.
On the other hand, the department refutes the companies’ allegations. “There are procedures for each and every clearance, only the investors have to take timely decision to give shape to their proposals. As regards forest and coal issues, they are in the Centre’s hand, while the state issues are handled at the department seriously. However, after this policy initiative, the seriousness of the companies will become clear. Works on ultra-mega power project in Sasan, Shree Maheshwar hydropower project and other projects are going on,” said Parihar.
The state still has a demand-supply gap of more than 1,000 Mw. Essar, Reliance, Tata and Moser Baer are some of the companies working on their projects, apart from the state government’s own thermal power plant of 1,200 Mw in Khandwa district. Few small hydropower projects are also in the pipeline.