In a bid to facilitate the implementation of the 4,000 MW Tilaiya UMPP in Jharkhand, the Ministry of Coal (MoC) has started contemplating the approval of mining plan for the Kerandari B and C coal blocks, meant to supply fuel to the ultra mega venture. The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) has already informed the ministry that the Reliance Power subsidiary-- Jharkhand Integrated Power Limited (JIPL)-- has deposited the cost of geological report (GR) for the combined blocks, a pre-requisite for the approval of the mining plan by the MoC. However, the ministry has been apparently buying time to take its call because the reserve of the blocks is claimed to be 1,229.12 million tonnes (MT) now, against the MoC's earlier estimate of 972 MT. These blocks, allocatted specifically for the Tilaiya UMPP, are expected to produce 40 MT per annum (MTPA), whereas a UMPP requires around 18.8 MTPA of coal, at max. The MoC had allocated these two coal blocks to JIPL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for the preliminary development activities at the Tilaiya UMPP, to exclusively meet the fuel needs of the project. Subsequently, the ownership of which was later transferred to the Anil Ambani led power firm following the selection of Reliance Power as the developer of the power project through an international competitive bidding process. However, the company is still to make any progress towards the acquisition of 5,537.33 acres of land required for development of the Kerandari B and C coal mines. As per the commissioning schedule proposed by Reliance Power, the first unit of the project is due to be commissioned during May 2015, while the five remaining units are expected to go on steam at successive intervals of five months until June 2017, when the entire project would be operational.
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