State Natural Choice for Power Project: Pradhan.

The State BJP will urge the Centre to allocate one more ultra mega power project (UMPP) out of the five projects announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget 2015-16.

Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said he will take up the matter with the Ministry of Power and request for sanctioning of one more UMPP for the State.

'As the proposed UMPPs will be set up in coal-bearing States, Odisha will be a natural choice for its huge deposit of coal,' Pradhan told this paper.

In his Budget speech, Jaitley announced that five more UMPPs will be set up with total investment of Rs. 1 lakh crore under the plug-and-play model. The Finance Minister, however, did not announce the States where these projects are proposed to be set up.

Under the plug-and-play system, coal blocks will be auctioned after the projects are granted various clearances to speed up and simplify mining and get better valuation.

Ultra mega power projects are coal-based thermal power projects that have 4,000 MW generation capacity.

Though the Centre has already sanctioned a UMPP for the State, it scrapped the tender of two such projects, including the one at Bedabahal in Sundargarh district, following objections raised by private power firms and financial institutions that the bidding process is lopsided.

Nine power majors including Adani Power, CLP India, GMR Energy, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Energy, Tata Power and Sterlite Energy had bid for the Odisha UMPP. However, all the private companies pulled out leaving only NTPC and NHPC for bidding.

Meanwhile, the Power Ministry has started the process for re-tendering of the UMPPs. The Centre has set up an expert panel to analyse the methodology adopted in the bidding process for ultra mega power projects in Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

Election-bound Bihar is likely to get one of the UMPPs, sources said, adding that the proposed plant may be fed from a mine either in Jharkhand or Odisha.


THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS