In a boost to implement some of its major and long-pending projects, most of them of power sector, a top official of the Union Cabinet Secretariat is expected to liaison with the State government to pave the way for obtaining central clearances and hasten their implementation. At a meeting held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of the Union Cabinet Secretary, Chief Secretary SV Ranganath is reported to have submitted a list of long-pending projects, each costing over a Rs 1,000 crore, which have been delayed for long.    

Most of them were electricity projects which required coal linkages. This included the joint venture with the Chhattisgarh government where Karnataka will be eligible for a share of the power generated. The Additional Secretary in the Union Cabinet Secretariat, Anil Swaroop, who has been briefed at length on the major pending projects in the State, will arrive in Bangalore to convey the present status, reasons for the delay and ways to hasten implementation of such projects to the government.    

The State government has referred to the 4000 mw power project of the National Thermal Power Corporation at Kudigi in Bijapur district for which civil construction has already commenced, but is yet to be provided with coal linkages.    

Other projects discussed include the gas-based power project at Bidadi —700 mw, which can be raised by another 1,400 mw — near Bangalore. The gas for the project will have to come from the GAIL gas pipeline, and the two giant steel projects of ArcelorMittal at Bellary and Tata Steel in Haveri.