Vedanta-Foxconn loss to be compensated by restarting the controversial Jaitapur nuclear plant?

@vivekbhavsar

Mumbai: The Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis led alliance government in Maharashtra has begun taking swift decisions by lifting the stay on the construction of the Bullet Train station (at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)) and the metro car shed at Aarey Milk Colony. Now, it is the turn of the contentious nuclear power plant proposed at Jaitapur in Konkan.

A recent meeting held between the French Minister and India’s Union Minister of State for Space and Atomic Energy Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi mooted bilateral collaboration in the field of nuclear energy.

The erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government had stayed several key infrastructure projects of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre, including the construction of the underground station of the Ahmedabad – Mumbai bullet train project and the car shed of Mumbai Metro project-3 in Aarey Milk Colony. 

The former is a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In case of the latter, the Thackeray government had declared the Aarey Milk Colony forest zone as a ‘no development’ zone and chosen the salt pan lands at Kanjurmarg instead. 

Also Read: Nine major proposals for investment worth thousands of crores stalled by the Centre

According to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the cost of construction of metro project -3 has escalated by Rs 10,000 crore due to the MVA government’s decision to shift carshed from Aarey colony to KanjurMarg. 

The Shinde-Fadnavis government came to power on June 30 and within a week, the duo had decided to reinstate the metro car shed in Aarey Milk Colony while instructing the Mumbai Metro Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) to hand over land in the BKC to The National High-Speed Railway Corporation Ltd (NHSRCL) for construction of the underground station of the bullet train project.

Even as the Shinde-Fadnavis government was taking decisions to greenfield projects stalled by the previous Thackeray government, the Foxconn-Vedanta semiconductor project shifted its destination to Gujarat. 

The expected investment by Vedanta-Foxconn was around US $ 22 billion (Rs. 1.58 lakh crores). The sudden decision by Anil Agrawal of Vedanta group came as a jolt to Maharashtra. The Shinde-Fadnavis came under heavy flak by the opposition MVA (consisting of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.

It is believed that CM Shinde met PM Modi in New Delhi and requested him to sanction a big investment project to compensate Vedanta-Foxconn. Both Shinde and Fadnavis have said that Modi has assured them to sanction a big investment project in Maharashtra.

A senior bureaucrat from the State secretariat, on condition of anonymity, has said that the so-called investment bigger than Foxconn that has been assured by the Modi government is none other than the reinstatement of the Jaitapur Nuclear power project. He added that the Shinde-Fadnavis government is also planning to rejuvenate the Petrochemical Refinery project at Nanar in the coastal region of Maharashtra.

In a recent meeting between French Minister Chrysoula Zacharopoulou along with French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain and other officials including Thomas Mieusset and the Union MoS Dr Jitendra Singh, it was discussed to speed up the setting of the nuclear power reactors at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district in Konkan. 

Dr Singh has apparently assured the French Minister that the technical, financial and civil nuclear liability will be resolved at the earliest by both sides and well before the scheduled visit of French President Emmanuel Macron in early 2023.

The Minister recalled that nuclear power is clean and environment friendly, apart from having the potential to ensure the country’s long-term energy security on a sustainable basis. He emphasised that the nuclear power plants have so far generated about 755 billion units of electricity saving about 650 million Tons of carbon emissions. 

The net-zero targets are expected to be met through a combination of various clean energy sources including nuclear power. In this context, the present nuclear power capacity of 6700 MW is planned to be increased to 22,480 MW by 2031 on progressive completion of projects under construction and accorded sanction,” the union minister said during his interaction with the French delegation. 

The Union government of India has already accorded In-Principle approval for setting up six nuclear power reactors of 1650 MW each in technical cooperation with France as a part of number umbrella nuclear deal signed in September 2008, when Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

After the execution of this project, the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant would be the world’s largest nuclear power generating plant with a total capacity of 9,900 MW. The estimated cost of the project in the year 2010 was around US $ 13 billion (Rs 1 lakh crores). The cost escalation during the past 12 years would have increased the estimated project cost.

This project has been in gestation for a long time. However, it was stalled due to a series of agitations over the last 15 years. The Shiv Sena was on the frontline to oppose this nuclear project at Jaitapur. After an accident hit the Japanese Fukushima reactor on March 11, 2011, the Jaitapur project was supposed to be scrapped.

Meanwhile, last year, the French company EDF submitted its binding techno-commercial offer to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to build six European Pressurized Reactors (ERs) at Jaitapur. In May, this year, a high-level team from EDF visited India and held detailed talks with NPCIL officials.

NPCIL will be responsible for the construction and commissioning of the units, as well as obtaining all necessary permits and consents in India as the owner or operator of the plant. This includes a certificate of the EPR technology by the Indian regulator.