Centre clears pending power projects in Maharashtra

All the pending issues were sorted out in the course of the meeting, which ended with the State getting the green signal for most of MSEB’s power projects including two units of 420 MW each at Khaparkheda, one unit of 250 MW at Parli and one unit of 330 MW at Paras.

Besides, as a result of the increased exposure limit, the MSEB will receive Rs 332 crore more from the PowerFinance Corporation this year.

Out of the additional allocation, Rs 132 crore would be spent for renovation and modernisation of the State’s power generation units at Bhusawal, Koradi, Nashik, Chandrapur, Khaparkheda, Paras and Parli.

About the private power projects in the state, the Minister said that all issues related to the Patalganga power project being commissioned by the Reliance Group and the Bhadravati project in Chandrapur had been sorted out.

However, as regards the Bhadravati project, the Union Defence Ministry was carrying out a test to verify the impact that the blasting in coal mines will have on the defence establishment in the vicinity. “Even if the defence ministry’s report says there are any adverse effects, the plant will be provided alternative coal mines,” the Minister said.

He also revealed that the Union power ministry had decided in principle to set up a unit of the National Thermal Power Corporation in the state. This would be the first such NTPC unit here. “It will be amega power project, but the site of the project is yet to be determined,” he said. Also, an additional 2,000,000 of will be provided coal for the MSEB’s thermal power projects at Parli and Paras. In addition, coal linkage will be provided to Khaparkheda units. The State has also agreed to consider purchasing power from Central projects at Kawas and Gandhar at a reduced tariff as these projects use Liquified Natural Gas.

Another long pending complaint of the MSEB about the quality of coal supplied by Coal India Ltd was also sorted out at the meeting. The Minister said that CIL would henceforth charge coal prices on the basis of Gross Calorific Value instead of the present method of Usable Heat Value. This would eliminate the complaints received from states about the quality of coal supplied, he added.

The Minister also sought to dismiss apprehensions about the second phase of the Enron project. Replying to a question on how the US multinational would raise funds when economic sanctions were in force,the Minister said, “It is the company’s problem.” Munde intervened then and said that Enron officials had assured him that the project was progressing according to the schedule.

The Power Minister also came out with bad news for state electricity boards across the country. He said that central sector power utilities would stop selling electricity to all State Electricity Boards on credit from July onwards, with a view to eliminating future liabilities.

Henceforth, power would be sold to SEBs only on the provision of a Letter of Credit (LoC) from banks, he said. The end of credit facility would mean that State Electricity Boards pay in cash to buy power from central utilities, he said.