Orissa govt. clears four mega projects

Bhubaneswar, May 31 (UNI) The Orissa government has cleared the establishment of three thermal power projects and an Aluminium Smelter project in the state.

A high level project clearance committee, headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, met here yesterday. It approved the Rs 3000 crore Smelter plant to be set up by the Vedant Alumina Limited(VAL) at Jharsugura in Western Orissa.

This apart the Committee also cleared the proposal for setting up of three captive power plant to be set up by the Nabharat Private Limited(NPL), Mahanadi Awan Power Limited(MAPL) and GMR Energy Limited.

Official sources here today said that VAL, which has been working on a Rs 4500 crores Alumina Refinery Plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, would now set up a 2.5 lakh tonnes per anum smelter plant and a captive power plant of at Jharsugura.

While the Nabharat Private Limited has proposed to set up two units of 520 MW power at an estimated cost of Rs 4675 crores in Angul district,the Mahanadi Awan Power Limited would go for a thermal power plant of two units, each 515 MW, at Talcher with an investment of Rs 4527 crores.

The GMR Energy Limited has proposed to generate 1000 MW of power from two units, each with 500 MW of power in Dhenkanal district with an investment of Rs.4200 crores.

The Orissa government,sources said, would soon sign Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with these three companies to expedite the power projects and the Smelter plant.

The power companies had been asked by the government to sell at least 25 per cent of power generated by them to the state government at the rate decided by the Orissa Regulatory Commission.This apart they would have to pay six paisa for every unit of power sold outside the state towards the environment impact assessment.

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