Bihar govt bid to assist private thermal plants

Patna, Dec. 10: The Bihar government is toying with the idea of creating a land bank to facilitate the setting up of private thermal power projects which were cleared by the NDA-I regime.

Soon after taking charge in November 2005, the NDA government had set up the State Investment Promotion Board, which cleared 19 thermal power projects to generate around 20,000 MW in the private sector entailing an investment of more than Rs 1 lakh crore.

But the projects could not take off owing to problems over land acquisition and the hurdles in allocation of coal blocks to the private entrepreneurs.

In its second term, the government wants to get the projects started.

“The state government is working on modalities to set up a land bank especially to aid the setting up of thermal power projects in the private sector which are facing difficulties vis-à-vis land acquisition. It is yet to be worked out whether the private entrepreneurs will be given land from the bank on lease or will be sold to them,” a top government functionary told The Telegraph.

The Nitish Kumar government has already made its intention clear with regard to land acquisition, saying it would not acquire land by applying force, perhaps keeping in mind the incidents of Singur and Nandigram in neighbouring Bengal.

Most of the private companies interested in setting up plants in Bihar have either acquired only a few hundreds of acres or have only identified the land for the projects.

JAS Infrastructure Capital Ltd is one of the companies which has made some progress as it has identified 1,850 acres of land for acquisition. The company has signed an MoU with the Bihar government for setting up four units of 660 MW at Banka.

Cement Manufacturing Company, Calcutta, has so far identified 600 acres for its 500 MW project and has also made an application for allocation of coal blocks.

Similarly, Triton Energy Ltd has also made some progress on land acquisition for its 1,320 MW plant at Nabinagar in Aurangabad and has identified 1,400 acres of land for the purpose.

Nalanda Power Company, also based in Calcutta, which intends to set up a 2,000 MW (4X500 MW) plant at Pirpainty in Bhagalpur, has identified 600 acres and has applied for the coal blocks as well.

Asked why the state government was not extending the much needed helping hand to these projects, energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told The Telegraph: “I don’t have to say anything on these projects. The state government’s administration will help them in land acquisition if they face any kind of problem during the acquisition at the district level.”

Yadav sought to put the ball in the Centre’s court. “The onus lies on the central government as the majority of the clearances have to be taken from the Centre. The clearances with regard to pollution, civil aviation and even on water, particularly that from the Ganga, have to be taken from the Centre besides the coal linkages, the most vital input for running the plants. The state government can just play the role of a facilitator in setting up the plants,” the minister said.

Thermal power projects take four or five years to complete. Given that the projects, which could create 14,500 jobs if commissioned, are stuck in a limbo, they are unlikely to see the light of the day in the coming four-five years.