By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 27, 2018: Corporate houses can no more keep land allotted for the industries by the Odisha government if they fail to kick of the projects in time.

To begin with, Odisha has belatedly started the process of resuming land from developers of failed power projects. Incidentally, the state government had signed MoUs with 30 independent power projects (IPPs), envisaging generation capacity of 37,000 Mw.

However, the majority of the companies did not implement their projects due to various reasons like lack of local protests, coal linkages and drying out of long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

Meanwhile, Chennai-based BGR Energy Systems and CESC Ltd have offered to surrender lands acquired or identified for their projects. Kalinga Energy & Power Ltd, an Odisha-based developer has also indicated shelving of its 1000 Mw coal-fired power plant.

The state government will very soon recover 1900 acres land allotted to CESC and BGR Energy and the land would be added to the state’s land bank which has a pool of 121,000 acres, officials said.

Ironically, majority of the IPPs have remained non-starters. Only Vedanta Ltd and GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, the subsidiary of GMR Energy are successfully running operations.

Projects by B C Jindal controlled Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd (JITPL), Lanco Power and Maa Durga who have commissioned their projects have almost turned into stranded assets due to lack of coal availability or PPAs or both. JITPL which was initially referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is now amongst the 11 shortlisted power projects for resolution under Scheme for Asset Management & Debt Change Structure (Samadhan).

Ind-Barath Energy Utkal Ltd (IBEUL), a subsidiary of Hyderabad-based Ind Barath Infra Power Ltd, despite a firm long-term PPA and coal linkage is stranded as it turned an NPA (non-performing asset) for lenders. IBEUL is also amongst the shortlisted power projects for resolution under Samadhan.