Government to auction three UMPPs by March 31

Four more states to join UDAY debt restructuring scheme in 3 weeks

The central government said it would by end-March offer for auction three Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs), one each in Bihar, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, requiring a combined investment of Rs 80,000 crore.

It also said four more states were likely to join the ambitious UDAY scheme for debt restructuring of distribution companies (discoms) in the sector by the end of this month.

The UMPPs, said power secretary P K Pujari, were at Banka in Bihar, Bedabahal in Odisha and Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu. The minimum investment for a UMPP of 4,000 Mw was recently revised from Rs 20,000 crore to around Rs 27,000 crore, on the basis of a higher price for coal and land.

The power ministry had aborted bidding for Cheyyur and Bedabahal in January last year, due to tepid response from the private sector. Private firms which had participated in the first round of bidding for both had withdrawn, citing difficulties in securing finances for these projects.

Pujari said the bid document for one of the UMPPs had been finalised and would soon go for Cabinet approval.

He also said the ministry had signed agreements with states to cover a little over half of total discom debt of Rs 4.37 lakh crore by March 31, under the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY). “More than 15 states have already shown their willingness to join the scheme. Bihar, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are currently finalising the (agreements) for joining the scheme in 20 days,” Pujari said.

The sector, he said, would attract investments of at least Rs 10 lakh crore. This comprises investments worth nearly Rs 9.3 lakh crore in identified thermal power projects, Rs 78,600 crore in transmission projects to be awarded on rate-based competitive bidding and Rs 75,900 crore in the Deen Dayal Gram Jyoti Yojana that aims at separation of agricultural feeders from those supplying urban areas.