KEPL backs out of Odisha power project

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sept 24:

Kalinga Energy & Power Ltd (KEPL), a subsidiary of Kolkata-based Shyam Group, has withdrawn from its 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant proposal in Odisha.

Citing delays in obtaining financial closure (defined as a stage when all the conditions of a financing agreement are fulfilled prior to the initial availability of funds) for the project, the company has sought to withdraw from the project.

Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has asked the Collector of Jharsuguda to stop land acquisition for the power plant developer following its request.

In a letter to the Jharsuguda collector, IDCO said; “The client company has submitted withdrawal proposal for the private land measuring 120.85 acre because of the delay in implementation of their project. You are requested to withdraw the above mentioned land from the purview of acquisition”.

The company, which had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government in 2009, had initially planned to set up a 1,000 MW plant at Sambalpur, but revised its proposal in 2009 opting to set up two units of 660 MW each in Jharsuguda.

A status report submitted with the state government showed that it had not achieved financial closure for the Rs 6,500 crore project till March this year.

KEPL was neither allotted a coal block nor had any obtained any coal linkage from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).