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| Gujarat to get its second UMPP: Shinde |
| Press Trust of India / Ahmedabad Sep 29, 2009, 21:26 IST |
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Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said Gujarat would soon get its second Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) through competitive bidding.
"Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have been the leading states in power generation. While third UMPP is coming up in Andhra, the state of Gujarat shall get its second such plant soon," Shinde told reporters, after reviewing power sector reforms in the state.
The state government has suggested three locations to the union power ministry for setting up the second coal-fired UMPP.
"The first site suggested for this UMPP is at Chara village in Junagadh district, while the second one is part of the land owned by Kandla Port whose chairman has come up with a request to set up a power plant," Principal Secretary Energy and Power Development (EPD) S Jagadeesan said.
The third location for the plant has been suggested along the coastal belt of Jamnagar, he added.
Bids would be invited for the second UMPP soon, which is usually of about 4,000 Mw capacity, and would call for an investment of Rs 16,000 crore, Shinde said.
UMPP is part of union government's initiative to provide clean electricity to consumer at low cost. Tata Power had bagged the first UMPP project at Mundra in Gujarat.
"At present, installed capacity of Gujarat is 11,011 Mw of which 4,766 Mw comes from the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation, 2,677 Mw from central power sector share, and 3,568 Mw is sourced from independent power producers (IPP) or private players," Jagadeesan said.
According to Jagadeesan, Gujarat is heading towards becoming a power surplus state by 2012, with a total proposed power generation capacity of 18,759 Mw, against the projected demand of over 14,000 Mw by then.
"But, at present Gujarat faces shortage of 8 to 10 million units depending upon the demand from agriculture sector," Minister of State for Energy Saurabh Patel told reporters.
Commenting on the issue of tussle between the centre and state government over allotment of un-allocated power, Shinde said, "We have given power to the states depending upon its availability. No in-justice has been done."
The issue of un-allocated power was raised in the state assembly recently.
"The issue of un-allocated power was raised in the assembly, and we have asked for a policy on un-allocated power from the centre," Patel said.
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