BHUBANESWAR: Even as Kalinga Energy and Power Limited (KEPL) has informed the State Government to withdraw from the 1,320-mw thermal power project in Jharsuguda district, nine MoUs signed for independent power projects (IPPs) are in limbo.
A Shyam Group of company, KEPL, backed off from the Odisha project citing delay in acquisition of land by the State Government.
One of the six companies to sign MoU with the State Government on February 7, 2009, KEPL had proposed to set up a 1,000-mw coal fired power plant at Babuchakuli in Sambalpur district with an investment of `4261.27 crore.
In 2011, the company revised the configuration of the project from 1,000 mw to 1,320 mw comprising two units of 660-mw each with an investment of `6,500 crore. It requested the State Government to relocate the site to Sodamal near Kolabira in Jharsuguda district.
The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Odisha (IDCO) was in the process of acquiring 120 acres of private land out of 900 acres of land required for the project. The State PSU has stopped land acquisition for the project. The company has submitted withdrawal proposal for the private land measuring 120.85 acres because of the delay in implementation of their project.
“You are requested to withdraw the above mentioned land from the purview of acquisition,” IDCO wrote to Jharsuguda Collector recently.
Sources in the Energy Department said KEPL was among 10 other IPPs that had not made any progress. The other IPPs under scrutiny of the State Government for inordinate delay in project execution include Adhunic Power, Nava Bharat Power Ltd, Astaranga Power Company Ltd, Chambal Infrastructure Ltd, Sahara India Power Corporation Ltd, KU Projects, JR Power, BGR Energy and Vijaya Ferro and Power. These companies are yet to acquire land for their projects.
These companies were not allocated coal block nor secured any coal linkage from Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).
The State Government will make a review of the MoUs signed for power projects in the wake of cancellation of coal blocks on the order of the Supreme Court, said Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das.