Govt plans to set up 5 new UMPPs at Rs 1 lakh cr investment

India will set up 5 more ultra mega power projects, entailing investments of around Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion), the government said on Saturday.

"Five more ultra mega power projects, under the plug and play model will be set up with total investments of Rs 1 lakh crore," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his first full-year Budget for 2015-16.

UMPP is coal-based thermal power project that has 4,000 MW generation capacity.

The minister, however, did not announce the states where these projects are proposed to be set up.

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Under the ‘plug and play’ system coal blocks will be auctioned after they are granted various clearances to speed up and simplify mining and get better valuation, Jaitley said.

One such project is likely to be set up in power starved state of Bihar.

The proposed plant in Bihar may be fed from a mine either in Jharkhand or Odisha.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said in November that sufficient number of coal blocks will be allotted for the purpose.

Power Finance Corporation is the nodal agency for UMPPs in the country.

So far, 4 UMPPs have been awarded, of which Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by Reliance Power.

Tata Power is operating the Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.

Image: A power project in Bihar has become a political issue. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

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