Govt yet to award four UMPPs to developers

The government is yet to award four ultra mega power plants of 4,000 MW capacity each, Parliament was informed today.
As per the original ultra mega power project (UMPP) scheme, nine plants were planned across the country.
"Nine UMPPs -- four pit-head and five coastal locations -- were envisaged," Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Rajya Sabha today.
Of the total envisaged, four were awarded to the eligible bidders -- Mundra in Gujarat (Tata Power), Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) to Reliance Power.
Final bids for the Cheyyur UMPP in Tamil Nadu and Bedabahal UMPP in Odisha are due on December 22 and January 7, respectively.

The proposed UMPP at Surguja in Chhattisgarh is yet to be allocated new coal blocks, the minister said.

The government has shelved the plan to set up a UMPP in Maharashtra due to resistance by local people.
"The site originally identified at Tadri could not be taken up due to agitation by local people. The Karnataka government has been requested to expedite the details on the issues as brought out in the report for alternate site sent by Central Electricity Authority," Goyal added.
An UMPP is a thermal power project of at least 4,000 MW capacity.