Power projects being reviewed

The Orissa government has decided to freshly reassess and revalue proposals for all the 32 projects submitted by independent power producers (IPPs) and state-run organisations.

All IPPs and state-run power bodies have been asked to give a presentation to the government within a week, failing which, their proposals would be rejected.

This is primarily being done to gauge the seriousness of the IPPs and other power bodies in coming to the state.

The government apprehends that power utilities are more interested in having coal blocks than generating power and contributing to the state grid. Notices have recently been sent to all the power utilities asking them to make their intentions known before state government through early presentations. The government recently received 32 proposals from IPPs and government entities for setting up power plants in the state with a combined generation capacity of 29,000 Mws and an investment of about Rs 1. 45 lakh crore. The last nine proposals was received by the government last week. Alongside, the government has decided not to provide coal blocks to these power plants, as they would be signing the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with the government beyond the cut off date of September 30.

Till date, the government has signed MoUs with 13 power utilities and have promised them to provide coal blocks from the two coalfields of the state "� IB Valley and Talcher. The state has coal reserves of 61 billion tonne which is almost 38 per cent of the country's total reserves.

Meanwhile, three state-owned companies were allotted 4 coal blocks by the Centre at Baitarani West on Thursday. While 2 coal blocks have been given to Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), one each has been allotted to Orissa Hydro-power Corporation (OHPC) and Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). About 600 million tonnes of coal would be mined from Baitarani West. The total is equally divided among OHPC, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Gujarat Power Company (GPC) of 200 million ton each respectively. The volume of mining by OMC and OPGC are yet to be ascertained. Speaking to Business Standard, on the 32 proposals received by the state government from IPPs and government utilities, state energy minister Surya Narayan Patro said, " We will revalue and reassess the veracity and sincerity of these power companies. The government is committed to provide land and other infrastructure but in no way would co-operate with them in getting coal blocks, which could be the main focus for the power companies".

As is the process, after the presentation the proposals would be placed for single-window clearances and subsequently sent for approval from the high-powered project approval committee.