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Ghatampur thermal plant:December-end set as fresh deadline to start 1st unit
The Centre has set a December-end deadline for the first unit of the under-construction 1,980 MW thermal plant at Ghatampur in Kanpur. The Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd is setting up the coal-fired power plant, with the first unit expected to be operational by November-end. The project has faced delays due to financial issues and disruptions caused by Covid-19 and farmer protests. 75% of the power produced by the plant will go to Uttar Pradesh, while the remaining 25% will be sold to Assam.
The Centre has set December-end as the fresh deadline for the commencement of the first 660 MW unit of the belated under-construction 1,980 MW supercritical thermal plant at Ghatampur in Kanpur.
People aware of the development said that coal secretary Amrit Lal Meena on Friday held a high-level meeting in Delhi to review the progress of the upcoming plant and directed the officials concerned to expedite the plant that was already running much behind the schedule.
“The company setting up the plant in Ghatampur was asked to expedite things to ensure operation of the first unit at the earliest. The agencies involved in the construction of the plant were also given fresh targets,” UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) chairman Ashish Kumar Goel, who was in the meeting, said over the phone from Delhi.
The Neyveli Uttar Pradesh Power Ltd (NUPPL), a joint venture of Neyveli Lignite Corporation of India Ltd, a government of India enterprise, and the Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd, a government of UP enterprise, is setting up the coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1,980 MW, consisting of three units of 660 MW each at Ghatampur in Kanpur with 51:49 equity participation.
“Upon the review of the progress of the plant in the meeting by the coal secretary on Friday, we have been asked to start the plant with the first unit by December-end,” NUPPL chief executive officer CS Santosh said. “But our internal target is to start the first unit by November end,” he added.
According to him 75% of the power to be produced by this supercritical plant will go to UP while the remaining 25% will be sold to the state of Assam as per an agreement.
The Central government sanctioned this project in July 2016 after the land for the same identified in 2015. The first unit of the plant was scheduled to be ready for commercial operation in 52 months from the date of sanction, the second in 58 months and third in 64 months.
However, the project has been delayed for a number of reasons raising concern among the stakeholders. The Centre is constantly reviewing the progress of the project and issuing directions for an early start of the project. Coal minister Prahalad Joshi himself visited the plant and reviewed its progress in February this year.
People in the know of things said that the firm that was awarded the contract to do civil and mechanical work in the plant had gone bankrupt and this, they added, significantly hampered the progress of the plant, washing out one full year.
“This is true the executing work faced some financial issues, but those issues have been sorted out and the work is on in full swing,” Santosh said. “In fact, the Covid-19 and protests by farmers also caused a delay in the project,” he added.
