PFC meet on Odisha UMPP on Oct 4

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, Sep 29 :

The Power Finance Corporation (PFC), the nodal agency for ultra mega power projects in the country, has convened a meeting of utilitiesor procurers of the proposed Odisha UMPP in New Delhi on October 4 to discuss various aspects including land, condition of precedent,staggering of commissioning of the project.

“The focus will be on land acquisition for the project as the process has been delayed. Idco will lease the land to Odisha Integrated Power Ltd (OIPL). Lead utilities would be setting up a new special purpose vehicle (SPV) before the transfer of OIPL to successful bidder. IDCO, OIPL and the new SPV will enter into a tripartite agreement,” said an official of energy department.

Under the proposed tripartite agreement, IDCO will lease out the land to the new SPV. Upon the signing of the agreement, all the rights of OPIL would cease perpetually. The new SPV  may be owned by the lead utility or all the utilities can be shareholders in proportion to power allocated to them, sources said.

The IDCO is in the process of acquiring land for the project to be set up at Bedabhal in Sundargarh district. The UMPP needs 3,100 acres of land in all. Odisha would get 1,300 Mw as its share from this project. Water for this UMPP has been allocated from the Ib river. Check dams and barrages would be set up on the river to facilitate drawal of water.

Notification under Section 6 (1) of Land Acquisition Act has been issued for acquisition of private land totaling to 2,732.56 acres across six villages.

Coal Block Issue

The meeting will also discuss the coal block issue. The coal from the project will be sourced from three mines — Meenakshi, Meenakshi B and dip side of Meenakshi in Ib valley coalfields that have been allocated by Coal India for this project.

Besides, the meeting will focus on staggering of the project for successful implementation of the project.

It may be noted that the state-run bulk power purchaser Gridco has suggested implementation of the Bhedabahal UMPP in two phases.

Sangramjit Nayak, joint secretary (Energy) in his letter to the Union power ministry on behalf of Gridco has said, “The entire project of 4,000 Mw capacity can be set up in a phased manner- Stage-I (2×800 Mw) and Stage-II (3×800 Mw) or any other combination. Such phased development will facilitate the financial closures that involves a huge fund of Rs 25,000 crore. The load/demand of participating states will come in a staggered manner so that the load growth can be managed prudently with the upcoming generation,”

 

The state government has also sought changes in the terms and conditions of the recently revised standard bidding documents (SBDs).