Post News Network
Bhubaneswar: Worried over tardy progress in the grounding of proposed Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Sundargarh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sought intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its early implementation.
“The UMPP was supposed to be taken up on a fast track mode for which Orissa as the host state has contributed nearly `350 crore as sought by the project proponents. However, the progress for development of UMPP is rather slow even when all the requisite support is being provided by the state government,” Patnaik said in his recent letter to PM.
Stating that preparation and finalisation of Standard Bidding Document (SBD) was time consuming, Patnaik said, “As the host state, we have submitted our views and concerns relating to the SBD, which I hope, have been duly addressed.”
In December 2014, the Union power ministry has cancelled the bidding process for Orissa and Tamil Nadu UMPPs. The bidding process was taken up in 2012.
Noting that recently the state government and the Centre have launched the joint initiative of providing 24X7 power for all, the chief minister said in order to achieve this objective, generation of power would also need to be increased commensurately.
He urged Modi to issue suitable instructions to the concerned authorities for early initiation of the bidding process and implementation of the power project.
The UMPP had proposed to generate 4,000 mw at an estimated cost of `30,000crore.
The UMPP is structured to be developed through two special purpose vehicles (SPVs), Orissa Integrated Power Ltd (OIPL) and Orissa Infra Power Ltd.
Both are subsidiaries of Power Finance Corporation, the nodal agency for implementation of UMPPs in the country.
