Bolangir likely location for second UMPP

Out of the two new Ultra Mega Power Plants (UMPPs) planned by the Centre in Orissa, one is expected to be located in Bolangir district.

The Union government is keen to set up one UMPP in Bolangir, said the official sources.

With a view to select the site, a team of officials from Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) and officials of the state energy and forest departments and Bolangir district administration will visit various locations in the district on April 19.The site will be finalized after the visit of the team. It may be noted, the Centre had earlier decided to set up one UMPP, the first such venture in the state, at Bedabahal in Sundergarh district.

Besides Bolangir, the Centre is also exploring the possibility of setting up another UMPP, the third one for the state, somewhere along the state’s long coastline. For this purpose, a team comprising officials from CEA, PFC, OSPCB, district officials and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) recently visited five possible sites. These locations included Kirtania (Balasore district), Dhamara (Bhadrakh district), Paradeep (Jagatsinghpur district) Astharanga (Puri district) and Gopalpur (Ganjam district).

“A team of officials have visited five locations in Orissa and Dhamara is being considered as the possible site for the third UMPP”, Pradeep Kumar Jena, secretary, energy, Orissa government said.

Meanwhile, the state government has asked the Sundergarh collector to expedite the process for acquisition of land for the Sundergarh UMPP. The collector has been told to take steps to issue notification under section 4 (1) of the Land Acquisition Act.  The project requires about 3100 acres of land. The progress of the UMPPs in the state was reviewed by chief secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra. It was attended by I C Prasad Keshari, joint secretary in the ministry of power (MoP).

Keshari informed the meeting that the Request For Qualification (RFQ) for Sundergarh UMPP is likely to be published by May 15 after completion of the process of 4 (1) notification for land acquisition.  Sources said, the UMPPs planned in the state would have a capacity of 4000 Mw each. While Orissa would get 1300 Mw from the first UMPP planned at Bedabahal, it would get 50 per cent of the power generated from the second and third UMPPs.