The Orissa energy department has pulled up three independent power producers (IPPs)- Visa Power Limited, Essar Power Limited and Nava Bharat Power Limited for the tardy progress of their proposed power projects in the state.
Even though these three companies had inked MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government in 2006, the pace of land acquisition for their projects has been extremely slow which has invited the wrath of the state government.
The financial closure of these projects is also pending due to the delay in availability of land and non-allotment of coal blocks.
P K Jena, the state energy secretary, said, “The progress of three power projects- Visa Power, Essar Power and Nava Bharat Power- has been very unsatisfactory and we have asked these companies to expedite work.
If these companies fail to comply, the state government will be forced to do a rethink on their projects.”
Essar Power, which proposed to set up a 1000 MW power plant at Paranga near Angul, has not acquired even a single acre of land despite entering into a MoU with the state government in September 2006.
The power project needs 1070 acres of land out of which 770 acres are private land while the remaining 300 acres are government land.
Similarly, Nava Bharat Power has also been unable to acquire any land for its 1050 MW power plant to be set up at Meramundali and Khadagaprasad in Dhenkanal district.
The company had signed the MoU with the state government in June 2006.
The power project is to come up on 1093.3 acres of land which includes 90.74 acres of government land and the remaining 1002.56 acres private land.
For Visa Power, which proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2x660 MW) at Brahamanbasta near Athagarh in Cuttack district, 160 acres of government land has been allotted. The company had sought 1100 acres of government land for its power plant.
The state government today reviewed the progress of as many as 21 out of the 27 IPPs which have signed MoUs with it. All these 27 IPPs have a cumulative capacity of 32,420 MW.
“We held a review of the IPPs on the progress of their projects. While there are power projects which have made a good headway, there are others whose progress has been unsatisfactory.
There are problems pertaining to water allotment and diversion of forest land which have held up these projects and the state government will make best efforts to expedite work on the projects”, said state energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak.
The state industries secretary Sourabh Garg and Priyabrata Pattnaik, chairman and managing director, Industrial Infrastructure Corporation of Orissa (Idco) were present at the review meeting.
