Three new UMPPs in Orissa soon: Razdan

New Delhi, May 6 (UNI) The government today said three new ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) of 4,000 MW each are likely to come up in Orissa soon, in addition to nine UMPPs already proposed across the country.

''Three new UMPPs are likely to come up in Orissa. The CEA (Central Electricity Authority) teams will visit Orissa by the middle of this month for collecting relevant data of the sites,'' Power Secretary Anil Razdan told UNI here.

However, he did not disclose the exact timeframe of the three UMPPs.

Mr Razdan said Orissa had recently agreed for three UMPPs that could be structured through Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs), promoted by Power Finance Corporation.

The projects would be set up in such a manner that the host State would be the major beneficiary, he added.

The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power had already bagged the Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh UMPPs, while the Tatas have bagged the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

The government has set a target of adding 78,000 MW power generation capacity during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

The country has 256 billion tonnes of coal reserves, out of which about 455 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) is mined, with the import of about 40 mtpa of coal presently.

India has an installed power generation capacity of 1,41,080 MW and about 67 per cent of this is based on coal.

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