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Power projects: fast track clearance on anvil

NEW DELHI: Following the directions by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Planning Commission to put the clearance for mega power projects on the fast track, the Union Power Ministry and the Ministry of Environment and Forests are jointly working on a proposal that would drastically cut down the time taken for granting various clearances, including environmental.

Reliance sources said that officials of both the Ministries have got together to put in place a new initiative that would ensure that environmental clearance along with other related issues were taken up on a priority so that the long delays faced by the power projects — both thermal and hydro — to actually begin work were taken care of.

“The Prime Minister had convened a meeting last month where he had specifically made it clear that the time taken for granting environment clearance for power projects should be brought down, a view backed by the Planning Commission also,” a senior official said.

At present, the Ministry of Environment and Forests takes around 550 days to grant major power projects different stages of environment clearances, including no objection for use of forest area.

The private and public sector power developers had expressed concern over the prolonged time schedule for granting such clearances which in turn affected the work on important projects. They had urged the Government to look into the entire issue and bring down the time by at least a half.

“We are working on bringing down this period for environmental clearance to around 225 days. We will soon formulate a new policy for approval at the appropriate level. This will help in putting the entire issue on fast track and reduce the long delays taken to complete the projects or start them,” the official said.

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