10 yrs on, MoU of Rs 1.46L cr unused in power sector: Gujarat

The Gujarat government signed the MOUs of Rs. 1.46 lakh crore at Vibrant Gujarat Summit(VGS) in last ten years but not a single penny is invested out of this huge amount. The Gujarat government put this on record of the assembly on Thursday. The Congress MLAs asked the details on the progress of the MOUs during question hour to which the energy minister replied that all eight MOUs singed did not move in a further direction.

The opposition members had sought details from the minister over the progress of MOU of power plants in different districts. In all the cases, the minister replied that the plant was not commissioned, the developer was not interested, or the project is delayed due to permission not received.

As many as eight MOUs of Rs. 1,46,500 crore were signed during the VGS held in 2007 and 2009 to establish power plants of the total power generation capacity of 27,450 MW. The companies which signed MOUs were Nuclear Power Corporation India Limited, Adani Power Limited, Adani Power Electricity Project, Visa Power, Torrent Power Limited, JSW Energy Limited, Universal Success Enterprise Limited.

The proposed power plants were to be set up at Mithi Virdi village in Bhavnagar, Dholera in Ahmedabad district, Dahej in Bharuch, Pipavav in Amreli, Surat, Junagadh and Jamnagar. Reacting to this, the leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani said, "The Gujarat government made huge claims of investments in crores of rupees and employment generation for thousands of youth in the state through these MOUs. In fact, not a single MOU was materialised."