The ₹12,655-crore 2x800 MW ‘Uppur Supercritical thermal power project’ received fresh impetus with Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RIL), winner of the ‘Balance of Project’ (BoP) contract, paid the bank guarantee and all set to commence work, joining hands with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Larsen and Toubro (L&T).
Seven months after winning the prestigious ₹3,647-BoP package, RIL has paid the bank guarantee of ₹ 360 and odd crore on September 5, 2018, sources in the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), establishing the supercritical thermal power plant at Uppur in the district, said.
After winning the contract in February, 2018, RIL had one month time to pay the bank guarantee but cleared it only a few days ago, they said.
“We have paid the bank guarantee and got into the play”, said a spokesman of RIL. Officials said RIL, which has been awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract in the BoP package and allied civil works, was likely to take up works from September 10.
The public sector BHEL, which was awarded the ₹ 5,580-crore Boiler, Turbine and Generator (BTG) contract and L&T, the ₹ 999-crore ‘seawater intake and outfall’ system contract had already commenced works.
With RIL joining, works on all the three contracts would go simultaneously, giving the much needed momentum to the project, officials said.
Mr Vikram Kapur, Chairman and Managing Director, TANGEDCO, after the site inspection on August 21, had directed the officials to speed up the work and ensure the project was commissioned by December, 2019.
Meanwhile, TANGEDCO continued to wage legal battle to take over 360 acres of patta lands but clarified that this had not come in the way of carrying out the project works. After the district administration had alienated 227 acres of government lands, TANGEDCO had taken possession of 408 acres of patta lands and commenced the process of awarding compensation to the land owners, officials said.
