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Business News/ Politics / Shortage of cement delays power projects in eastern India
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Shortage of cement delays power projects in eastern India

Shortage of cement delays power projects in eastern India

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New Delhi: India is unlikely to meet power generation targets from its eastern region by 2012 due to a shortage of cement, officials said.

“For power projects in the eastern region there is a requirement for cement in civil work... I don’t know why there is a shortage. Work has already slowed down for these projects having a capacity of 250MW and 500MW," said a top official at the Central Electricity Authority, or CEA, India’s apex power sector planning body. The official, who didn’t want to be identified, said the shortage may delay power generation capacity of around 3,000MW from the region.

Of 78,577MW of power generation capacity targeted by 2012, the eastern region is expected to contribute 17,000MW. Of this, around 3,100 MW is planned from hydropower projects.

Missing power generation targets isn’t new to India. In the five years to 2007, the country missed its target of adding 41,110MW by 49%. Currently, India has a power generation capacity of 147,000MW. Mint had reported on 28 August that India would achieve only 40-46% of this target. The country added only 9,300MW of generation capacity in 2007-08 against a target of 12,000MW. In 2008-09, it added only 3,454MW against a target of 11,061 MW.

“Due to the demand picking up in the infrastructure sector, there is a cement shortage in the eastern region," said another CEA official who also declined being named.

India is the world’s second largest cement market and has a manufacturing capacity of 189 mtpa, which is expected to go up to 245 mtpa by 2010. The country’s market size is pegged at Rs55,000 crore, next only to China.

“The eastern region has always seen a cement deficit. With the new capacity of 6.1 mtpa to become operational in this fiscal, we expect the supply pressure to ease in the eastern region and enable faster completion of these projects," said Madanagopal R., an equity research analyst at Mumbai-based Centrum Broking Pvt. Ltd.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Utpal Bhaskar
"Utpal Bhaskar leads Mint's policy and economy coverage. He is part of Mint’s launch team, which he joined as a staff writer in 2006. Widely cited by authors and think-tanks, he has reported extensively on the intersection of India’s policy, polity and corporate space.
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Published: 13 May 2009, 09:44 PM IST
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