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Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), the only thermal power generating utility in the state has urged Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) to issue final clearance for laying of railway line on land belonging to the coal major.
Construction of railway line was necessary for transport of coal from OPGC's Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks to its power station at Banharpalli near Jharsuguda. OPGC which runs a 420 Mw coal-based plant is pursuing capacity expansion where it will add two 660 Mw super critical units.
"Recently, the Ministry of Coal in its letter dated January 30 has issued in-principle approval to the proposal of MCL for leasing out land to OPGC for laying railway line to transport coal block to its power station at Banharpalli. It is requested to issue the final clearance for laying the MGR (merry-go-round) line on MCL land at the earliest,” Venkatachalam Kuppusami, managing director of OPGC stated in a letter to MCL chairman and managing director AN Sahay.
Kuppusami said the detailed project report (DPR) for the MGR system has been prepared and finalized by Rites Ltd for the entire MGR alignment. Based on the report prepared by Rites, OPGC is in the process of acquiring land and it is at an advanced stage. While notification under Section 9 (1) of Land Acquisition Act has been completed for private land, proclamation notices have been issued for government land. The forest diversion proposal has been discussed in the forest advisory committee for Stage-I forest clearance.
OPGC's expansion plan involved addition of two supercritical units, each of 660 Mw, being taken up at a cost of Rs 11,547 crore which also includes cost of other components like coal block development and dedicated rail corridor .
OPGC had recently tied up funding of Rs 8660 crore from Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification (REC), by executing a loan agreement with the two Central PSUs. The balance funding is to be borne proportionately by the Odisha government and US-based AES which hold 51 per cent and 49 per cent stake respectively in OPGC.
The additional capital infusion by AES and the Odisha government is set to begin after 2015 as OPGC has cash to go ahead with project implementation. Construction work on the expansion plan is expected to take off in April 2013 with the commissioning scheduled during the 12th Plan period (2012-17).
The Ministry of Coal has allocated Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks for catering to OPGC's expansion plan. Though Manoharpur and dip side of Manoharpur coal blocks were allocated for the OPGC project, it is projected that the coal mine would be in a position to achieve full capacity production two years after the commissioning of the power plant.
The development of the coal blocks were affected due to the classification by Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) as 'No-Go' category which were reclassified into 'Go' category only in June 2011.
This had prompted the state government to seek tapering coal linkage to support the OPGC expansion plan.
