UP's first UMPP to come up in Etah.

Uttar Pradesh is set to get its first super-critical ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Etah district, about 200 km from here. A CEA team, which visited the site, has identified and cleared the location and given an in-principal approval to the project. A formal letter of sanction and announcement is expected soon.

The project -to be implemented through the competitive bidding route and entailing an investment of approximately Rs. 25,000 crore - will be developed on a built-own-and-transfer (BOT) basis.

According to a senior official of the UP Power Corporation, once the formal sanction comes through, the state government will have to provide land and water linkages for the project whereas the Centre will provide coal linkage and environment clearance.

'The state government has identified 2,865 acre for the project while 140 cusec water would be provided from Kak river. The requirement of coal would be around 18 million tonne per annum, the linkage for which would be arranged by the Centre,' said the official, adding that the dedicated freight corridor would be used to ply coal for the project.

'We expect the clearance to come any day,' said the UPPCL official, adding that orders have already been given for shifting the transmission lines that are coming within the ambit of the project site.

Speaking to FE, a CEA official said like all other UMPP projects, the Power Finance Company (PFC) will be the nodal agency and conduct the bidding process.

The in-principal approval came after the team was satisfied with the availability of land, water and other environmental issues.

The state government had proposed two sites for the UMPP - in Etah and Firozabad. The Central team visited both sites. Following a tie between the two sites, the CEA selection committee selected Etah as the Firozabad site was in close proximity to the Narora nuclear site and, hence, posed environmental issues.

The project is likely to likely to be ready by 2020-21.



THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS