There are around 50 such projects, including thermal and hydel, which havebeen given techno-economic clearance from the CEA. Though most of theprojects have received the approval during the past two years, some hadobtained it over five years ago. But they are yet to achieve financialclosure. Total capacity addition through the projects would be around 25,000mw.

The deadline, however, will not apply to the projects which are held up dueto legal proceedings. "There are several projects which are awaitingdecisions from the courts," said the official, adding, these include theprojects which are affected due to court cases pending against therespective state electricity board.

The ministry has also convened a meeting with the project developers todiscuss the issue. "If a company has a genuine difficulty in obtainingcertain clearances which have affected the funding process, the ministry mayrelax the deadline," said official.

In the cases, the companies may suggest a time-frame to obtain theclearances and achieve financial closure. Ministry had to take the decisionin order to plan capacity addition requirement, the official said.

However, for the past two years the Government has been fixing the deadlinesand extending them at the last moment.

According to the official, earlier there were certain issues which were notclear such as fuel linkage. These affected funding of power projects and,since the policy was not clear, the government had to consider delays on theaccounts as genuine. But most of the issues are now sorted out and onus islargely on the developers.

The ministry plans to take a firm decision this time, said the official. Inview of the proposed mega power projects it has become important to finalisethe capacity which is in the pipeline. Uncertainty about the projectsaffects the sanction of new projects. Besides, the state electricity boardswill also have to reassess their escrowable capacity in case any of some ofthese projects are pulled out.

In such cases, the SEBs can offer the escrow account facility to otherprojects. The final decision on the proposed capacity addition in a statewill also help the SEB to plan its own power generation plan. This is alsobecause as per the new policy, new projects up to 1000 mw do not requireclearance from the Centre and can be approved at the state level. But theprojects pending with the Centre are the once which were planed as per theold policy thus need to be approved by the CEA. Untill these are pendingwith the Centre, states can not take decision on new projects.