NTPC may reject Coal India?s (CIL) proposal to relocate its 1,980-mw North Karanpura power project. The power giant has also issued an RFQ (request for quotation) to appoint a consultant for developing a coal block at North Karanpura.
Chandan Roy, director operations, NTPC, told FE it was not feasible for his company to relocate the North Karanpura super thermal power project from Chhatra to a different place, as CIL was too late in pointing out that the area was a coal-bearing one.
CIL chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya recently said his company successfully persuaded the power behemoth to relocate its super thermal power project to another site in Jharkhand. ?We were at an advanced stage of implementing our project and had already floated the tender to select the equipment procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. We will not be able to relocate the project to some other site,? Roy said.
Although Roy did not specify whether it was an NTPC board decision, sources said the board, which met last week, took the decision of not shifting the project to some other site, while also deciding to float an RFQ for developing the North Karanpura coal block on 7.5 sq km.
The Rs 8,000-crore project, whose foundation stone was laid in September 2001 at Chattra Jharkhand, suffered delays due to the division of Bihar into two states and for problems relating to debt funding by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). However, in 2006, NTPC revised the project once again and tied up with JBIC for debt funding. The project is supposed to be implemented in a 70:30 debt-equity ratio.
CIL chairman Bhattacharyya earlier said that since the area on which NTPC had planned to set up its power project has reserves of 6 billion tonne of coal, NTPC would have to relocate the project to some other place. CIL would help NTPC in finding out an alternative site, he added.
Roy said 170 acre was allotted to NTPC before 2001 by the erstwhile Bihar government to set up the project. ?In 2006-2007 when we were ready with our revised plan the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) and CIL woke up to find reserves of coal there,? he added. ?We cannot relocate our project to any other place,? he asserted. NTPC, on Wednesday, floated an RFQ to appoint a consultant to prepare a mining plan, feasibility report as well as do an environmental impact assessment and prepare an environmental management plan for developing the Chatti Bariatu south coal block in North Karanpura with reserves of 353.85 million tonne.