‘80% of private sector power projects held up’

Policy failure and uncertainty over coal linkages have held up 80% of private sector coal-based power projects, a study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce said, HT reports.

Policy failure and uncertainty over coal linkages have held up 80% of private sector coal-based power projects, a study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce (Assocham)said.

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Had these projects been ready on time, they would have produced about 50,000MW of energy over the last five years.

Only projects promoted by a few front-ranking industrial houses — one of them is in Maharashtra — were expected to make the deadlines.

Assocham shared these findings with HT on Thursday. The report said the only consolation was speedy work being undertaken on the India Bulls projects at Amravati in Maharashtra, Tata Power’s projects at Mundra in Gujarat and Reliance Power’s Sasan in Madhya Pradesh.

The delay means that only projects capable of generating about 7,000MW of power would be started by the end of this year and early next year.

Projects to generate the balance 44,000MW, as per the 11th five-year plan (2007-12), would continue to face uncertainty. The study warned of a steep rise in price of coal.