MP inks MoUs with 28 major private power companies with an aim to supply 24-hour electricity to rural areas in the state by 2013

The Madhya Pradesh government has signed MOUs with as many as 28 major private power companies, with an aim to supply 24-hour electricity to rural areas in the state by 2013."The government has set a target of 24-hour power supply to rural areas by 2013 and for this purpose it has already signed agreements with 28 private power producers for the generation of 40,000 MW of electricity," Energy Department Secretary, Mohammad Suleman told PTI.
The government has also formulated a new Madhya Pradesh (Investment in Power Generation Projects) Policy, 2010 for the purpose and assigned the job of monitoring the progress of implementing the MOUs to the State Energy Secretary, he said.The new policy will be applicable to Independent Power Projects (IPPs) with whom MOUs have been signed and also the future IPPs, he said.
It has also set a timeline of 6-12 months for submitting Detailed Project Report (DPR), comprising of technical and commercial feasibility studies, water allocation, land acquisition and environment impact details, the Secretary said.Currently, the power projects in Madhya Pradesh, which are in different stages of implementation are : Bina Power Supply Company, Bina (Sagar district), Essar Power, Baidhan (Singrauli district), Jaiprakash Power Ventures, Nigri (Singrauli) and BLA Power (Narsinghpur district), department sources said.