Just wondering...

What happened to Anil Ambani’s mega power project in Dadri? Well, Reliance Power’s 7,480 MW gas-based power project has made no progress beyond acquisition of land and statutory clearances.

Reliance Power says it has acquired 2,100 acres of land in Dadri in Utar Pradesh and has received all statutory clearances from the government, including approvals from the Ministry of Environment & Forests, water allocation from Ganga Canal, and no-objection certificate from the UP State Pollution Control Board. It has, however, neither started construction, nor the process of ordering equipment.

The reason: Fuel supplies have not been tied up. Anil’s Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RIL) are currently locked in a high-profile court battle over gas supplies for the Dadri project from the latter’s fields in the K-G Basin. As for the Mayawati factor, sources say the stakes (i.e. over 7,480 MW of additional power) are too high for the UP government to put a spanner in the works of the Dadri project.

—Kapil Bajaj