A 4000 megawatt (MW) ultra mega project will be set up in Jharkhand making it
the 9th of a series of such projects throughout the nation rising from the
original 5—Orissa,
Andhra Pradesh (AP),
and Tamil Nadu (TN) wanted one each and got it. Breaking ground for the project, Union Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde announced proudly that he is responsible for increasing the number from 5 to 9.
While the project has been sanctioned, it appears that a suitable site for the project has not yet been selected or allotted. The Maithon Power Limited (MPL), a joint venture of Tata Power Company Ltd. and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), will set up this project and will be commissioned by 2010 and augment power generations for Northern and Western states.
As an energy and power deficit nation, India is short of at least 6000 MW in the 10th financial plan and was able to generate only 36,000 MW much lower than the targeted 42,000 MW. No explanation has been provided on how there was such a large shortfall and no plan seems to be in place to avoid a similar disastrous performance in the next plan period.
While Shinde’s enthusiasm to create more power projects is commendable, there also needs to be some sort of an architecture under which the nation needs to operate. India cannot afford to sanction power projects willy-nilly at the request of states and in a haphazard manner. Such unplanned development will result the energy situation to turn out like Indian urban mess. The only difference is that this mess will be much more expensive and harder to clean up.
