IPICOL approves 676 acre land requirement for NTPC projects in Dhenkanal.

State-run Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) has recommended a land size of 676.73 acre for various projects of NTPC Ltd. in Dhenkanal district, less than 745 acre land sought initially by the power producer. NTPC has agreed to the final land estimate of IPICOL, the state government firm said.

The final estimate has been sent to state Energy Department for administrative approval of the project.

In December last year, the national PSU had asked for 745.15 acres of land for ash dyke, reservoir area, ash pipeline corridor and railway line corridor for its 1600 MW super thermal power project coming up at Gajamara in Dhenkanal district. However, IPICOL had assessed the land requirement at 538.34 acres and had asked it to revise its land requirement as per guidelines issued by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Subsequently, NTPC scaled down its requirement to 717 acre.

The power generating utility wanted 402 acres for ash dyke and 134.4 acres for reservoir area in its revised application. Similarly, it had put the requirement for its ashpipe line corridor and railway line corridor at 32.57 acre and 144.53 acres respectively. IPICOL cut down the land size significantly for reservoir from 134 acre to 101 acre, with other small changes in land requirement sought by NTPC.

BS