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September 06, 2008


Kerala, Gujarat join Orissa to tap coal

BS reported that the state power boards of Orissa, Kerala and Gujarat are joining hands to form a special purpose vehicle to explore untapped 600 million tonne of coal reserves from Baitarani West in Orissa, with each state holding an equal stake of around 33%.

Gujarat and Kerala would pay INR 75 crore each as caution money for getting 2 coal blocks in Baitarani West and the funds would shortly be deposited with the centre.

Mr SN Patro energy minister of Orissa has convened a meeting of Orissa Hydro Power Corporation, Kerala State Electricity Board and Gujarat Power Company to work out the modalities. Power ministers of Orissa, Gujarat and Kerala would be attending the meeting.

Mr Patro said that "Power ministers of Gujarat and Kerala have accepted my idea and would soon be initiating steps to form the SPV. Till date, the centre has allotted four coal blocks at Baitarani West to state utilities, of which 2 have been given to Orissa Mining Corporation and one each to Orissa Hydro Power Corporation and Orissa Power Generating Company.”

Union ministry of coal has recently allotted the Baitarani West block with capacities of 600 million to Orissa Hydro Power Corporation. The Orissa hydro utility would be using 200 million tonne, while the remaining 400 million tonne would be distributed between Kerala and Gujarat power utilities. This apart, the centre allotted 5 coal blocks to 13 independent power producers.

Each independent power producer got the allocation for mining 120 million tonne of coal for generating 500MW over the next 15 years. Orissa received 33 proposals from independent power producers to set up power plants in the state entailing an investment of INR 0.164 million crore and generation capacity of around 32,000 MW.

Orissa recently signed MoUs with 13 independent power producers with a combined generating capacity of 16,800 MW. Recently the centre allotted 2 mega coal blocks to 8 independent power producers at Mandakini and Baitarani West for mining 1600 million tons of coal and generating 12000MW of power. The centre was expected to provide long and short term linkages to independent power producers to meet coal demand.