The Hindu Business Line : Mega power projects

This has reference to the article "Ultra-low bids for ultra-mega power projects" (Business Line, December 24). While most people in the power and finance sectors seem overjoyed with the so-called "ultra-low bids" for the first two UMPPs, the real issues behind such large, polluting projects seem to have been ignored.

The bid mentioned in the article is the expected cost+ for the project owners. What about the real cost to society, including the cost of the land required for the project, exemption on Customs duty and income tax holidays, rehabilitation costs for displaced people, transmisson line costs, environmental costs, including that of ash handling, and all the social and health costs?

If all these direct and indirect costs are taken into account, the real cost per unit of electrical energy generated from these projects will be much higher than the benefits.

When the power infrastructure (including generating stations) is functioning at very low efficiency compared to international standards, why should we be all agog about such unrealistic financial statistics as disguised bid prices?

If less than 50 per cent of the projected cost of each UMPP were to be invested in efficiency improvement measures in the existing facilities, almost the same amount of virtual power addition is feasible, by releasing the huge hidden power/energy.

Why is our society not interested in harnessing the huge potential of the inexhaustible sources of energy in the form of solar, biomass, wind and ocean energy?

Have our planners and decision-makers lost sight of social and environmental concerns?

Shankar Sharma

Mysore

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