In order to get coal allocation for the 1,600 MW thermal power plant of the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. (KPCL) at Chhattisgarh, the State government has decided to drop Larsen & Toubro (L&T) from implementing the project.
KPCL and L&T had signed a joint venture agreement on February 24, 2010, for the coal-based super critical thermal power project at Godhna in Chhattisgarh. A pact was signed with the Power Grid Corporation of India in 2011 for evacuation of power.
Following the Centre’s decision not to allot coal for the project involving private firm (L&T), the government has decided to sign a fresh MoU with the Centre for implementing the project. Under the proposed plan, the State and Centre would share power in the ratio of 51: 49, Minister for Energy D.K. Shivakumar told presspersons here on Wednesday.
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The Chhattisgarh government has allotted 1,260 acres of land for the project. The State had already spent Rs. 210 crore for land acquisition. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 9,015 crore. The project was launched during the regime of former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa.
Mr. Shivakumar, who has submitted a petition to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, said owing to power deficit in the State, the government was keen on implementing the project. The issue of dropping L&T from the project would be discussed at the KPCL board meeting and in the Cabinet, he said.
Ministry of Environment and Forests’s clearance for the project was pending on account of non-allocation of coal for the project. Mr. Goyal has promised to provide coal linkage to the project if the State government is ready to drop L&T and include the Centre in the execution and management of the project, he said. Mr. Shivakumar said he had submitted petitions to the Power Ministry seeking coal allocation for other thermal projects in the State, and increased power from the Central grid to the State.
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