BoA to consider Mundra SEZ power hike proposal

The Board of Approval (BoA) in the Ministry of Commerce will again take up, on June 2, the proposal of Mundra Port and SEZ for almost doubling the power generation capacity at its sector specific Special Economic Zone at Kutch in Gujarat.

The BoA, headed by G K Pillai, secretary, Ministry of Commerce had on February 23, 2009 deferred the decision on the request from Adani Power Private Ltd, the promoter of the Mundra Port and SEZ, for increasing the generation capacity to 5040 MW from 2640 MW approved earlier.

The BoA asked the developer to come back with a clear plan for power utilisation since the current utilisation was very low.

The proposal will again come up for consideration of the BoA. It is also supported by an indication from the Gujarat Government showing projection demand for 10 years from the potential users.

The projected demand add up to 5200 MW.

"The request of the developer is submitted for consideration of BoA," according to the agenda document of the BoA meeting.

The developer has given justification for raising the generation capacity stating the economic slowdown has resulted in reduction in the price of power plants and lower capital expenditure.