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Ultra Mega Power Projects face land crunch

NEW DELHI: Faced with continued problems of land acquisition for the Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs), the Power Ministry is actively considering cutting down the land requirement by up to 40 per cent for such projects, including those of the 3 projects that have already been allotted under the fast track programme. The Government is seriously considering the recommendations of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which had submitted a report seeking a massive cut in land requirement for such projects.

The Government is already contemplating scaling down the land acquisition for the 3 UMPPs, including the Sasan project in Madhya Pradesh and the Krishnapatnam project in Andhra Pradesh awarded to Reliance Power and the Mundra project in Gujarat allotted to Tata Power, a move that could badly hit their future expansion plans.

“The CEA has come out with a new report which suggests cutting down 15-40 per cent land requirement for thermal power plants. This holds for the UMPPs,” Power Secretary Anil Razdan said. Although the Government is not yet going to make it mandatory for land reduction but would press the developers of these projects to consider this option. It is also felt that this would not only reduce the land acquisition cost for the future projects but would also bring down the period for their actual construction taking off. A maximum of 1,580 acres would be required for setting up a 5 x 800 MW imported coal-based thermal power project like the Mundra UMPP but the Government had identified about 3,500 acres for setting up the project.

Similarly, 3,355 acres were identified for the 6 x 600 MW Sasan UMPP, being executed by Reliance Power but the report states that a total of 3,280 acres were required for such a project.

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