 "Odisha hopes to bag Baitarani West coal block soon")
"The Coal ministry has agreed in principle to allocate the Baitarani West coal block. We hope the allocation will be through next month", said state energy minister Pranab Prakash Das.
Initially, the state government had demanded allotment of Chhendipada and Chhendipada II coal blocks to OTPCL. But since these coal blocks have already been earmarked for auctions, the Coal Ministry asked the state government to seek an alternative coal block.
OTPCL had earlier bagged the Tentuloi coal block. But being an underground block, it is tough to mine and would not cater to OTPCL's requirement. Most of the reserve is below 900 metre depth. Even with the use of best technologies, only two million tonne of coal can be extracted from this mine annually while OTPCL's requirement for the power project is 16 million tonne per annum (mtpa).
This prompted the state government to seek an alternative coal block. The state government justified the allocation demand stating that OTPCL was a 100 per cent government owned company being a 50:50 joint venture between between OMC and OHPC.
So far, only two coal blocks (Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur) have been allocated to a state PSU -- Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). This is in contrast to the West Bengal government owned generation utility that has won seven coal blocks under the PSU dispensation route.
OTPCL is setting up a 2400 Mw coal-fired power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 17,000 crore. The power station has been proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhekanal district. The project needs 1767.90 acres of land, including 1074.95 acres of private land, 684.25 acres government land and 8.7 acres forest land. The power purchase agreement (PPA) for sale of entire power to be generated by the OTPCL power station has been executed with Gridco, the state owned power trading firm.