Chhattisgarh wants cheap power from UMPP

Raipur, Feb 13 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh government is not keen on setting up of ultra mega power project (UMPP) unless the state gets a share of 7.5 per cent of the power produced at actual production cost, Chief Minister Raman Singh said.

''We have no plans to change our existing policy for setting up the ultra mega power project,'' he told UNI here.

Dr Singh described as ''baseless'' the opposition Congress charge that the state government was deliberately creating hurdles in the way for setting up of UMPP with a generation capacity of 4,000 MW, demanding free power from the proposed project.

''We cannot change our policy, even if the proposed UMPP is shifted outside the state,'' he said, adding the project could be implemented only after an assurance that the state would be supplied 7.5 per cent of power produced at actual production cost.

Dr Singh said his government would prefer setting up of power projects by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) rather than such UMPP. ''NTPC is in the process of increasing the capacity of its Sipat plant to 4,000 MW while the public sector company has expressed its interest to set up another 4,000 MW power plant,'' he said, adding that efforts were being made to locate suitable land for the purpose.

The UMPPs have been drawn up by the Union Ministry of Power, by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the Power Finance Corporation (PFC). The plan envisages seven big projects, each one with a capacity of 4000 MW.

The seven proposed mega projects are to be located in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

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