Two blocked UMPPs to be fired up with new coal fields

The stalled ultra mega power project (UMPP) programme is set to be revived with the government looking to allocate new coal blocks to the Orissa and Chhattisgarh projects in place of those falling in areas prohibited for mining.The government has finalised a policy to allot alternate blocks to companies that have lost their captive coal mining rights after the ministry of environment and forest divided coal areas into ‘go and no go’ areas.
“The UMPPs (ultra mega power projects) would get preference in allotment of alternate coal mines,” an official in the power ministry said. Bidding for the 4,000 mw project in Orissa’s Bhedabahal village and at Sarguja in Chhattisgarh got stalled after portion of their captive coal block fell in the areas prohibited for mining.The first round of the bidding (request for qualification) for Chhattisgarh UMPP was supposed to be completed by May but has been postponed thrice and for the Orissa project twice due to lack of clarity over usage of coal mines related to the projects.
“Alternate coal blocks in the vicinity of the projects will be located to meet the entire need of the UMPPs,” said an official of the Planning Commission aware of the developments. Coal ministry will begin the process of identifying coal blocks close to the existing plant sites, but further delay in bidding for these projects is certain.
“As the process is time consuming, the last date for RFQ submission for Orissa project may be extended further for some time,” said the official. Bidding for Chhattisgarh project has already been extended till November. “We are working on them... some (coal blocks) could be accommodated through boundary adjustment... some could go from no-go to go areas,” power secretary P Uma Shankar had said earlier.
The two 4,000 mw projects will need around 15-16 million tonne of coal each annually to run at full capacity. This means that the reserves of the coal mines should be a minimum of 600 million tone to sustain long term fuel needs of the project.The coal ministry had allocated Pindarakhi and Puta Parogia coal blocks with total coal reserves of over 1.1 billion tonne in the Hasdoe Arand coalfields in Chhattisgarh for the UMPP in 2009.