Reliance falters on Krishnapatnam, Tilaiya UMPPs

With absolutely no progress over the last few months at its 3,960 MW Krishnapatnam and Tilaiya UMPPs, it is unlikely that Reliance Power Limited will be able to adhere to the stipulated deadlines.

• Various milestones, such as land acquisition and pre-construction activities, at the project have seen no movement at all for some time now. The Tilaiya UMPP, for instance, has only 470 acres of land available, out of the 2,407.7 acres required for the project, a figure that has not changed over the past few months. While Krishnapatnam UMPP is better off, with 97% land acquired, expeditious completion of this milestone remains doubtful, given the absence of any activity for quite some time. 
• The Tilaiya UMPP, being executed by the Reliance Power`s subsidiary, Jharkhand Integrated Power Limited (JIPL), is a pit head coal fired thermal power project at Tilaiya village in Hazaribag district of Jharkhand. As per the commissioning schedule proposed by the company, 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
• The Krishnapatnam UMPP is imported coal-based, located in Nellore district of coastal Andhra  Pradesh. Reliance Power bagged this project back in November 2007, beating Larsen & Toubro and Sterlite Industries, in a global competitive bid. Notably, the UMPP was originally planned to be on steam by September 2013, when the first 800 MW was expected to be operational. Following recent developments, the project is likely to be fully commissioned only by February 2015.