BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha Coal and Power Limited (OCPL), a joint venture company between the Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), is all set to participate in e-auctioning of coal blocks.
The State Government has a stake of 75.1 per cent in the newly floated company while the balance 24.9 per cent is held by AES Ltd, the minority shareholder in OPGC.
The Government has floated the joint venture as OPGC, the State-run thermal power produce, did not qualify to participate in the bidding process for coal blocks.
As per the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Second Ordinance, 2014, a Government company or a joint venture between two or more government companies/corporations will be eligible to participate in e-auctioning of coal blocks if the Government has 74 per cent paid up share capital in it.
The State Government has 51 per cent share in OPGC while the remaining 49 per cent is with US-based firm AES Ltd.
The OCPL will bid for Manohapur and dip-side Manohapur coal blocks which were allotted to OPGC before the Supreme Court cancelled all the 204 coal blocks, including the two in August last year.
“We are hopeful of getting the two coal blocks as coal-bearing States are given preference in allotment. Besides, we have made substantial investment in the expansion projects of Ib Thermal Power Station,” sources in OPGC said.
As per the new provision made in the ordinance, preference in coal block allotment will be given to State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) which have made more than 30 per cent investment in the end-use projects.
Minister of State for Energy Pranab Prakash Das had written to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal pitching for awarding the two coal blocks again to OPGC. The Minister cited that the PSU had made considerable progress on its proposed 1,320 MW expansion at its Ib valley plant.
OPGC has a 420 MW (2x210) thermal power plant at Banhapalli in Jharsuguda district. The expansion plan will add 1,320 MW capacity to the power station. The expansion plan is being taken up at a cost of Rs 11,547 crore.
Before cancellation of the two coal blocks, the State Government had sanctioned 1041.76 acres of land of the 1,190.60 acres applied by OPGC. Similarly, 825.72 acres of 1,362.35 acres of private land were also sanctioned for the coal mine development.
The OPGC has already tied up funding of Rs 8,660 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) by executing a loan agreement with the two Central PSUs.
Central PSU Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has bagged Rs 4,051 crore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from OPGC for supply and erection of the main plant while the Balance of Plant (BoP) contract valued at Rs 1,573 crore was bagged by BGR Energy.