Some of India's major power projects are facing hurdles in land acquisition. The power ministry’s own assessment of India’s first three UMPPs (Ultra Mega Power Projects) — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Mundra in Gujarat (above photo), and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, with a capacity of 4,000 MW each — shows it has lagged behind in meeting its own commitments to the projects.
Businessworld
Kandula Subramaniam
For instance, for the Sasan project, the central and state governments had to acquire 3,474 acres of land and then hand it over to the project company. Till the end of September, it had acquired just 1,873 acres. Around 46 per cent of the required land is still to be acquired. The concept of UMPPs involves the government (through Power Finance Corporation) setting up special purpose vehicles for each project, and then handing over the same to the successful bidder with all clearances in place.
Land acquisition has been a major bottle-neck for other infrastructure sectors as well, especially the NHDP (National Highway Development Programme), where even linear tracts of land (as compared to bulk land in one area) could not be acquired on time, delaying even the Golden Quadrilateral that was started in 1999-2000.
