In a major reform initiative the Narendra Modi government will start giving fast track environment clearance (EC) within 50 days to country’s infrastructure projects in power, steel, cement and mining sectors from this month. The move would benefit projects worth over Rs 3 lakh crore including 30,000 mw of stranded power projects and help in bringing growth back growth momentum in the economy.
The Prime Minister?s Office (PMO), in a communication to infrastructure sector ministries (a copy of which is with FeOnline), has directed MoEF that decisions with respect to streamlining the green clearance processes, including giving EC to applicants within a period of 45 days and putting the status of file processing after getting vetted by environment appraisal committee (EAC) on its website, to be implemented from October.
At present EC for projects takes anywhere between 105 days in normal circumstances to a few years in several other cases. Delay in green clearance is one of the main reasons why projects are getting hampered and investment worth billions of dollars getting blocked.
The PMO has also asked ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to examine whether the role of EAC could be diluted so that EC for projects could be directly given by ministry to implement shortening of green clearance norms.
Government sources said that the PMO is of the opinion that EC benchmarks could be set by MoEF based on a set of components and activities that need to be completed for getting such clearances. Proposal of companies scoring higher marks than the specified benchmark can then be directly sent to MoEF for EC while those with lower marks could be referred to EAC for appropriate recommendation.
The changes would mainly benefit power and coal mining projects that face delays over EC. As per estimate, this would benefit close to 30,000 MW of fresh capacity involving investment of close to Rs 1, 50,000 crore that are stranded and face issues on getting green nod.
?This is a proposal that is being actively considered by the MoEF. Once benchmarks are set, the process can be activated,? said a source in MoEF.
Normally it takes around 105 days to get EC but often such clearances are delayed for years due to cumbersome processes. Environment minister Javedkar, who recently launched an online system for filing EC has said the effort of the government would be give EC within 60 days. The process of doing away with EAC examination could further reduce the time and reduce the element of uncertainty over such clearances.
In addition to this, the streamlining process for EC would also look into the issue repetitive studies like those on water supply, ash disposal and water table being insisted upon by EAC while granting terms of reference (ToR) for EC.
The MoEF is also likely to ease rule for expansion projects in mining operations. Power projects proposing expansion units within existing boundaries and those proposing 50% capacity expansion outside the boundaries may be exempted from public hearing. In addition, grant of EC to thermal power projects (TPPs) be delinked from FC stage-I for linked coal blocks on lines of the UMPPs.