New Delhi: India will set up 5 more ultramega power projects, entailing investments of around Rs 1 lakh crore, said the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his first full-year Budget for 2015-16. UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that has 4,000MW generation capacity.
The minister, however, did not announce the states where these projects are proposed to be set up.Under the "plug and play" system coal blocks will be auctioned after they are granted various clearances to speed up and simplify mining and get better valuation, Jaitley said. One such project is likely to be set up in power starved state of Bihar. The proposed plant in Bihar may be fed from a mine either in Jharkhand or Odisha.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said in November that sufficient number of coal blocks will be allotted for the purpose. Power Finance Corporation (PFC) is the nodal agency for UMPPs in the country. So far, 4 UMPPs have been awarded, of which Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by Reliance Power. Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.
