Jairam Ramesh's rider puts brakes on Rs 170 billion ultra mega power project planned at Bedabahal in Orissa

The 17,000-crore ultra mega power project planned at Bedabahal in Orissa might not see light of the day as power ministry has not agreed to the conditions imposed by environment ministry for granting clearance to attached coalmine. 

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has granted mining approval to the project provided NTPC and Orissa Power Generation Corporation give up their respective Dulanga and Manoharpur coal blocks in the vicinity. As per data available with coal ministry, Dulanga block is expected to have 260 million tonnes of reserves, while Manoharpur and Dipside Manoharpur blocks have combined coal deposits of about 281 million tonnes. 

Bedabahal project was allocated three coal blocks in IB valley coalfield in Orissa with a total 886 million tonnes reserves in 2006. The environment ministry has denied mining permission to Meenakshi coal block with estimated 285 million tonnes of reserves while the other two have been cleared. 

A senior power ministry official said the central government was not authorised to decide upon projects of NTPC and Orissa Power Generation Corporation. "NTPC is a listed public sector company while Orissa Power Generation Corporation is controlled by the respective state government. We cannot agree to the environment ministry's conditions on their behalf. On the face of it, the proposal seems impossible to be agreed upon," he said on condition of anonymity. 

The power ministry last week received an official communication from the environment ministry on the issue and is expected to take a final call soon. The power ministry is comfortable with the second condition of the environment ministry asking for a reduction in the coalmining area of Meenakshi block. 

The condition emphasises on reduction of coalmining area by 10-15%. "We have reworked the boundaries and as per preliminary studies we have found that this would not affect the size of the ultra mega power project." 

Power Finance Corporation , the nodal agency for bidding out ultra mega power projects, had initiated international tariff-based competitive bidding for Bedabahal in June last year. PFC had last month extended bid submission deadline for Bedabahal to March 31. 

The power ministry official said companies like NTPC, Tata Power, Reliance Industries , Larsen & Toubroand Essar Power are vying the project.