RPower's Jharkhand UMPP proposal gets CCI nod

Cabinet Committee on Investment has cleared Reliance Power's Tilaiya ultra mega power project in Jharkhand, sources said.

RPower, according to them, may not have to provide non-forest land to compensate for the loss of forest land acquired for the proposed plant.

Sources said the company's 4,000 MW Tilaiya plant is now expected to be treated on par with the other public sector projects and therefore would be exempted from providing compensatory afforestation for the loss of forest land.

At present, only central government or public sector undertakings have exemption from the obligation to provide non-forest land.

Tilaiya power plant is to be executed by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Jharkhand Integrated Power Ltd, which was handed over to Reliance Power in January 2009 by Power Finance Corporation -- the nodal agency for UMPPs.

Tilaiya would be the fourth UMPP to be awarded to a developer. Earlier, two UMPPs bagged by Reliance Power are those of Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

UMPP is a big-size coal-based power plant with at least 4,000 MW capacity and is built at an approximate cost of Rs 25,000 crore.

CCI, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, aims to fast-track major projects and help boost investor sentiment.