Jindal Power says decks cleared by Environment Ministry for project in Chhattisgarh

Jindal Power Limited (JPL), a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), today said the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests had restored the Terms of Reference (ToR) for its project in Chhattisgarh.

The company said this would pave the way for it to go ahead with development activities at the site.

It said the Ministry had taken note of the Expert Committee's recommendation that the project may be appraised, based on its review of the matter, by following the original ToR.

After giving the initial clearance or ToR to the proposed Rs 13,000 Crore 2400 MW project in Tamnar in the State last year, the Ministry had revoked it in June this year.

The company said its officials made a presentation before the committee at its meeting held on August 10. They said that the project would come up on 456 hectares (ha) of land and also maintained that there is no change in the location of the power plant.

According to the presentation, for the 1000 MW plant, 614 ha was approved out of which 360 ha is for the main plant but the company has managed to accommodate all the 4x250MW units commissioned in 2008 in 245 ha only and the balance 115 Ha is available. The main plant will be set up in this 115 ha land. This will be possible because it will now be sharing most of the facilities with the existing plant, they said.

The JPL team pointed out that there is no change in the location of the proposed 4x600 MW plant. Only land use optimization was carried out due to scarcity of availability of land and which is also a requirement of the ToR issued on 31.03.2009.

The JPL officials said land use for the entire expansion project had been optimized from 1041 ha to 456 ha (and not 62 ha as was mentioned by the Ministry while withdrawing the ToR).

According to the company, the proposed project is to entail an investment of Rs 13,410 crore, of which over Rs 10,000 crore debt has been tied up. The proposed plant is apart from the 1000 MW plant already functional at Tamnar in the same area with an investment of Rs 4,338 crore and a plant load factor (PLF) of 93.1%.

Jindal Power said it had already placed orders with the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for equipment worth Rs 765 crore. Coal linkages have been approved for the first two units of the 2400 MW plant. The company is targeting to commission two units of 600 MW each out of the proposed 2400 MW before March 2012.

NNN