By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, May 29, 2018: Coal India Ltd (CIL) is all set to develop its maiden thermal power plant in Odisha through its subsidiary, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).

The power plant with a capacity of 1,600 MW (2×800 MW) is planned to be set up at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore in Sundergarh district. Power producer NTPC Ltd will be a joint venture partner and is all likely to have a 49 per cent stake to ward off legal issues since all clearances have been given to MCL.

The project has been able to get land and coal linkages and will utilise the pithead stock. NTPC will use existing power purchase agreements for the project.

“All formalities and clearances for the Sundergarh power project are in place. We have tied up with NTPC to run the plant. The North Karanpura project is at the consultancy level,” Coal India chairman AK Jha told reporters in Kolkata after his first day in office.

“We have recently received coal supply assurance for the project. Land has been allotted and environment as well as forest clearances were recently received. We hope to commission the project soon,” he said

MCL plans to use coal from Basundhara area in Sundergarh district, having reserve of 6.8 billion tonne. The annual coal extraction from this mine is set to touch 40 million tonne per annum in the coming years.

Talking about coal stocks, Jha said Coal India is planning to bring down stocks at pit heads from a present level of around 44.5 million tonnes to around 30 million tonnes enough to meet supplies for 15 days. Coal India’s pit head stocks have always been on the high due to evacuation issues.