Odisha may cancel MoUs for three IPPs for tardy progress

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jan 10, 2015 at 4:01 AM

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jan 10:

Citing sluggish progress in their projects, Odisha government Friday indicated that it could cancel the MoUs it has signed for three coal-based independent power producers (IPPs) in the state.

32 places in Odisha record day temperature at 40 Degrees Celsius or above; Bhubaneswar hottest with 43.6

2 youths go missing while taking bath in Kharasrota river in Odisha’s Jajpur; search on

“The fate of the three IPPs – Astaranga Power, SPI Ports and KU Projects – will be decided in the next task force meeting. Their progress is not satisfactory. Their MoUs have lapsed and we are not willing to extend them,” said Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, Energy secretary after attending a review meeting here on Friday chaired by chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati.

“We would like them to be off the list as they have not started the process of land acquisition”, Mohapatra, said.

The state government has already scrapped the MoUs signed with Essar Power and Vijaya Power for unsatisfactory progress on their projects. The state government had originally inked MoUs with 30 IPPs targeting a generation capacity of around 37,000 MW, it was revealed at the review meeting.

Three IPPs – Vedanta Group’s Sterlite Energy, GMR Kamalanga and Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL) – have already commissioned their projects. Sterlite Energy was the first IPP to commission its 2400 Mw (4×600) coal-fired plant at Bhurkamunda near Jharsuguda. GMR Kamalanga has put on stream three 350 Mw units of its 1400 Mw (4×350) plant.

Mohapatra said that the three other IPPs – Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Ltd, Lanco Power and Monnet Power were in an advanced stage of commissioning their power plants, while adding that the 700 Mw power plant proposed by Ind-Barath is expected to start operations in a month or two.

The Energy secretary said; “The state will get 25 per cent of power generated by these plants as its share”.

IPPs have already invested over Rs 32,000 crore on their projects.

Those which have made substantial investments are JITPL with Rs 4564.26 crore, Monnet Power Company Ltd Rs 4100 crore, Lanco Babandh Power Ltd Rs 4850 crore and Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd Rs 2954 crore, sources in the Energy department said.