Vijayawada: A cloud of uncertainty appears to have descended over the ambitious 4,000MW ultra super critical thermal power project to be set up by public sector giant NTPC at Pudimadaka in Visakhapatnam district of the Andhra Pradesh, going by a Cabinet minister’s reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.According to RK Singh, Union minister of state for power & new & renewable energy, the defence ministry has refused permission for the construction of a captive port for the project to bring in imported coal. Singh said this while responding to an unstarred question by V Vijayasai Reddy, a YSRCP Rajya Sabha member.
“The requisite clearance from the Airports Authority of India and the ministry of defence have been received. Land is available for the main plant. Feasibility report has been approved for the project. However, the ministry of defence has refused permission for the construction of a captive port for the project to transport coal,” Singh said.
The Union minister, however, held out hope that given the “uncertainties associated with imported coal, that is the fluctuation of prices, it has been decided that the plant be based on domestic coal”.
“The ministry of coal, vide this ministry’s letter dated October 31, 2016, has been requested for the grant of long-term coal linkage of higher grade domestic coal/allocation of captive coal block with high grade coal to meet the coal requirements of the proposed Pudimadaka project (4x1,000) of NTPC at Visakhapatnam,” Singh said.
“The completion of the project depends on the availability of the requisite clearances, coal linkage and the date of award of the project. Typically, the completion time for the project is 48 months from the date of its award,” Singh said.
In response to another question from Reddy, Singh said his ministry had no funds to sanction for developing Kakinada as a `Solar City’.
“No sanction could be issued or funds released as no proposals were received from the New & Renewable Energy Development Corp of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (NREDCAP), the state nodal agency.
The scheme got over in March 2017 with the completion of the 12th Plan period and, hence, no further sanction can be given,” he said.