Land acquisition for OPTCL's 2000 Mw power plant soon

Land acquisition for the proposed 2000 Mw power plant planned by Orissa Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL), a 50:50 joint venture between state owned PSUs- Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC), will take off soon.

The project needs 2000 acres in all, out of which government land is 55 per cent, private land 42 per cent and forest land comprises only three per cent.

“The site for the 2000 MW power project of OPTCL has been finalized at Kamakhya Nagar. The land acquisition process will be set in motion soon. Only two small habitations will be displaced by the project. A rehabilitation colony and an ash pond will also be set up as part of the project”, a top official source told Business Standard.

Initially, the power project was to be set up at Rengali in Sambalpur district but it had to be relocated to Kamakhya Nagar as the Kaniha coal block falling under the previous site was declared as a ‘No-Go area’ by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) in August last year.

Power production from this 2000 Mw plant is expected to take off from 2015-16.

The decision to build the 2000 Mw power project was taken up by the state government in June 2006. Thereafter, the board of directors of OMC and OHPC had agreed to form a joint venture company on January 29, 2007.

No coal block has been allotted by the Centre to OTPCL for the thermal power project. However, it has been decided to use the Baitarani West coal block allotted to OHPC and Mandakini-B coal block allotted to OMC for the project.