NTPC to commission Darlipalli project by 2018

Of 1,274.9 acres private land needed for power project's main plant, state govt has issued possession certificate for 1,205.79 acres

NTPC Ltd, the country's biggest power producer, hopes to commission its 1600 (2x800) Mw super thermal power plant at Darlipalli in Odisha's Sundergarh district by 2018.

"We hope to complete the Darlipalli project in five years. The project has received environment clearance while forest clearance is expected soon”, said NTPC's chairman and managing director (CMD) Arup Roy Choudhury.

Of 1274.9 acres private land needed for the project's main plant, the state government has issued possession certificate for 1205.79 acres. Alienation proposals for 339.49 acres of government land are in different stages of processing. The maharatna firm needed 1652 acres for this power station, the cost of which has been estimated at Rs 12850.07 crore.

Notification under Section 4 (1) of Land Acquisition Act has been issued for 32.36 acres of private land required for rehabilitation & resettlement colony. Moreover, administrative approval has been issued for acquisition of 55 acres private land for the Merry Go Round (MGR) system.

The Darlipalli super thermal power project will draw water from the Hirakud reservoir in the Mahanadi river. NTPC has secured coal linkage for this project in the form of Dulanga coal block with mine capacity of seven million tonnes per annum (mtpa) under command area of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) and Pakri Barwadih block in Bihar's Hazaribagh district with 12.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa). Odisha will get 50 per cent power from the Darlipalli super thermal plant. NTPC has also committed to establish a medical college near Sundergarh.

NTPC is building another 1600 Mw power plant at Gajamara in Dhenkanal district. For this project, notification under Section 4 (1) of Land Acquisition Act has been re-issued on June 20, 2012 for 796.33 acres of private land for main plant and township. NTPC will set up a power engineering institute at Dhenkanal that is linked to its Gajamara plant.Choudhury said the company was implementing projects with combined capacity of  20,000 Mw. Of the target of 9200 Mw set by the Planning Commission for the 11th Plan period (2007-12), the maharatna company added 9600 Mw.Similarly NTPC has already added 4000 Mw in the first year of the 12th Plan period (2012-17) against the targeted 14,000 Mw during the entire period. NTPC has lined up a capital expenditure of Rs 1.5 lakh crore for the 12th Plan.

On coal mining,  NTPC said the company has been allocated five blocks while four more blocks are to be awarded, taking its coal producing capacity to 100 million tonne per annum.