The Stateowned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) have jointly floated a company named Orissa Thermal Power Corporation (OTPC) to set up a 2000 mega watt power plant near Kaniha.Energy Secretary will be the chairman of OTPC which will be under the administrative control of the Energy Department. A full time chief executive officer (CEO) will be appointed through an open advertisement shortly, Energy Minister SN Patro told mediapersons after a meeting on the project here today.A four-member project team has been constituted for implementation of the thermal power project. An officer of the Chief General Manager rank and another officer of the rank of general manager have been appointed.Two retired chief engineers Jaydev Mishra and Iswar Chandra Das are also part of the project team.The Minister asked the project team to prepare a calender indicating the timeframe for selection and finalisation of site for the plant, forest and environment clearance, land acquisition, preparation of detailed project report and execution of the first phase of the plant.Meanwhile, the Centre has allocated two separate coal blocks - Mandakini-B for OMC and Baitarini West for OHPC for coal exploration. However, the Baitarini West coal block has been allotted jointly to OHPC and state power corporations of Kerala and Gujarat. The three companies have floated a special purpose vehicle through a tripartite agreement for coal exploration.Since the proposed thermal plant will be a pit head project, the project team will go scouting for a suitable site near the coal blocks. The first job of the team is to locate an office for OTPC in the city within a fortnight. Tender will be floated for appointment of a reputed consultant for preparation of DPR. The project will be implemented in two phases and both the phases will be commissioned during the 11th Plan period.
Source: Newindpress.com
21st December,2007