NTPC, L&T eye stake in OTPCL project

Power sector major NTPC Ltd and engineering giant L&T have evinced interest in picking up stake in the 2400 Mw power plant proposed by Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL), a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC). The power plant is to be located at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district.

“Both NTPC and L&T are keen to pick up equity in OTPCL's 2400 Mw project. We can offload up to 49 per cent stake in the project but no decision has been taken till now”, said an energy department official.

The 2400 Mw project of OTPCL is proposed to be set up at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore. It needs 1969.78 acres of land which includes 987.77 acres of government land, 83.94 acres categorised as forest area and 982.015 acres of private land.

Notification under Section 6 (1) has been issued. It has been decided that OTPCL will form its own project management team with skeletal manpower consisting of personnel having project implementation experience in large coal-based power plants.

The state government has administrative approval for acquisition of 982.015 acres of private land at the project site.

The private land is to be acquired in 10 project affected villages Aluajharana (19.68 acres), Annapurnapur (447.30 acres), Bijadiha (20.81 ares), Bhagirathapur Sasana (15.2 acres), Dhobabaheli (5.89 acres), Kateni (84.24 acres), Kantapala (45.55 acres), Kusumajodi (244.04 acres), Mahulapala (24.98 acres) and Anlabereni (74.32 acres).

The total land required for the project will be procured by OTPCL.

The company has got the water allocation from the department of water resources. Recently, the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) on coal had recommended the Tentuloi coal block with 1234 million tonne reserves in favour of the state PSU.

Entire power generated from the proposed power plant will be procured by Gridco, the state owned bulk power purchaser, as per the tariff determined through the bidding process.