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| Global tender for OPGC's 1200 Mw expansion by August |
| Bishnu Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar May 27, 2009, 00:40 IST |
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The Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), a joint venture between the Orissa government and AES, hopes to invite global tender for 1200 Mw expansion (unit-3 & 4 of 600 Mw each) at its existing thermal power complex at Ib Valley in Jharsuguda district by August-September 2009.
It expects to achieve financial closure for the expansion project by December 2009.
Meanwhile, in a strategic move, the company has decided to expedite basic work of the project like land acquisition, rehabilitation, forest and environment clearance, building internal infrastructure, approval of mining plan to make it lucrative for the prospective vendors who will be participating in the tender.
The project has already been allotted two coal blocks at Manoharpur and Dipside Manoharpur in Ib Valley sector of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL). The land requirement for the mining is estimated at 2000 acres while another 350 acres will be required for the construction of the power plant and residential quarters.
All the statutory clearances of the project are in place and the environmental clearance is expected soon. Besides, the application for no-objection-certificate for construction of the stack has been submitted to the ministry of civil aviation of the Union government, sources added.
RITES has been appointed as MGR (Merry-Go-Round) consultant for the final location survey of the rail route to carry coal to the project. The Engineering, Procurement, Construction (EPC) specification for boiler, turbine and generator (BTG) prepared by the Owner’s Engineers is currently being examined by OPGC.
To meet coal requirement of the power plant before the start of coal production from captive mines, the company has applied to the ministry of coal for transit coal linkage. Out of two coal blocks allotted to OPGC, the plan for starting mining in Manoharpur block, about 35 kms away from Ib Thermal, has been approved and the land acquisition is in progress. The socio-economic study is complete and the rehabilitation and resettlement report is being prepared by a consultant. The mining lease application for Manoharpur coal block has been cleared by the district administration and is pending with the steel and mines department of the Orissa government.
However, the other coal block allotted to the company at Dip side Manoharpur is yet to be explored and Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDIL) has been given the task of exploration and preparation of geological report for it. The application for forest clearance and prospecting license (PL) for exploration of this block has been submitted.
“The project is on schedule and we want a good vendor so that there is no cost over run”, Pradeep Kumar Jena, secretary, energy department of Orissa government told Business Standard. Meanwhile, OPGC has constituted core groups to look into various aspects of the project including the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) to expedite the work.
The meeting of the core group is being held every fortnight. Sources said, the cost of the expansion project is estimated at Rs 7000 crore. Out of this Rs 5000 to Rs 5200 crore will go towards setting up the two new units of 600 MW each and the rest will be spent on mining of coal. The project will be financed in the debt equity ratio of 80:20 with the equity portion proposed to come from internal accruals of OPGC.
The contentious issues between the two principal partners of OPGC, the Orissa government and AES, pertaining to the existing power purchase agreement with the state owned Gridco and power sharing from the expansion project, have been resolved by a high level task force headed by the state chief secretary. OPGC is likely to sign a PPA with Gridco for the expansion project shortly.
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