The Orissa Government has sought sanction from the Ministry of Power & Natural Gas to make changes in the RfQ document for the proposed ultra mega power plant (UMPP), at Bedabahal in Sundargarh district.

As per the new standard bidding documents (SBDs) prepared by the ministry, the state utility has to obtain all approvals, permission, licence and statutory clearances for the projects and coal block development within 120 days of signing the power purchase agreement (PPA). It will be a tough task for the state utility to complete the assignment within such a short time.

Hence, the state government has requested the ministry to modify the provisions in the model PPA for transferring the project to the successful bidder on as-is-where-is basis.

Gridco, the state utility, being the major power buyer from the proposed UMPP with 4,000 MW capacity, is the lead member for the Bedabahal project. It will purchase 32 per cent of power to be generated from the UMPP.

The ministry has cancelled the tender for the proposed project floated in 2010. The proposal for invitation remained suspended due to lack of environment clearance for captive coal blocks allotted to the project. But once again the bidding process was delayed due to framing of new SBDs, which were finalised last month.

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