OTPCL deposits Rs 184 crore as pvt land cost for 2400 Mw plant

Odisha Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL), a 50:50 joint venture between Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), has deposited Rs 184.52 crore for acquisition of private land for its 2400 Mw (3x800) power plant proposed at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district.

Total land finalized for the project taken up at a cost of Rs 17,000 crore, is 1767.90 acres. This includes 1074.95 acres of private land, 684.25 acres government land and 8.7 acres forest land. Alienation of government land is under process. Forest diversion proposal for 8.7 acres has been submitted to the principal chief conservator of forests.

According to a status note prepared by OTPCL, an expenditure of Rs 202 crore has been incurred on the project till December 2013.

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).

Orders under Section 7 (1) of Land Acquisition Act have been issued in nine villages. It is pending for one village.

Socio-economic survey of the affected villages has been conducted by Xavier Institute ofManagement- Bhubaneswar (XIMB) and the draft report has been submitted to the revenue divisional commissioner (northern division) and district administration.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) for sale of entire power to be generated by the OTPCL power station has been executed with Gridco, the state owned power trading firm.

OTPCL has obtained in-principle approval from the water resources department for allocation of 80 cusecs of water from Brahmani river.

The Tentuloi coal block in Talcher coalfields with reserve of 1234 million tonne has been allocated for the power plant. Annual requirement of coal is 12.62 million tonne per annum.The state government has sought consultancy support from NTPC Ltd for the power plant.

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.