Govt may set up UMPPs on sites of existing power plants

In a bid to tackle land acquisition issues, the government is planning to set up UMPPs on sites of existing plants that are either inefficient or old.

This is at the drawing board stage at the moment, but top sources have told CNBC-TV18 that the government is looking to set up ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) which have capacity of 4000 MW at sites where there are inefficient or old plants – for more than 25-30 years.

This will help the government to put up ultra mega power projects faster and there will be no hurdles for issues like land acquisition, water, forest and environment clearances. The government intends to do a feasibility study for setting up UMPPs, and identifying projects in which the Centre and states can participate and where the states can also have equal partnership in the UMPPs. The government will later decide on whether the UMPP will run through linkage or coal block.

This is also in accordance with the land acquisition issues which the government is facing from the Opposition.