Concerned that the delays being experienced in the 4,000 mw Sasan ultra mega power project (UMPP) might be repeated in other projects in the pipeline, the government wants to put in place a mechanism that would ensure that the remaining projects do not hit roadblocks and are implemented on time.After a meet of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) chaired by Union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde today, sources said that the EGoM is not only going to take a decision on the path forward for the Sasan project but wants to ensure that there is a suitable mechanism that ensures that the power ministry can decide what to do if events of the kind that occurred in the Sasan project are repeated in other projects. After the meeting, the power minister said that the issues deliberated also included what the government should do to ensure that the problems encountered in the Sasan project are not faced in the remaining seven projects. The EGoM, which met for the third time within a month today, failed to come to a decision on whether to award the contract to the shortlisted bidder. This initially happened to be a consortia of Lanco-Globeleq, which later changed to Lanco-Jindal after Globeleq withdrew from the project before it was actually handed over. It offered a tariff of Rs 1.19/ unit for the project. While the EGoM is expected to meet again on July 24, as “there are still some problems (legal) and require time to be resolved”, Shinde also said that the bid validity that expires on July 5, has been extended by another month.
