R-Power raises Rs 13,125-cr debt for Andhra UMPP

Will set up the 4,000-Mw plant at a cost of Rs 17,500 crore.

Reliance Power (R-Power), a part of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group, has raised over Rs 13,125 crore as debt from a consortium of domestic banks and financial institutions to achieve financial closure for its second ultra-mega power project (UMPP) at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

R-Power would set up the 4,000-mega watt (Mw) imported coal-fired project at a cost of Rs 17,500 crore, with a 75:25 debt-equity ratio, said a press release.

IDBI Bank is the lead arranger for the debt facility, with Power Finance Corporation (PFC) acting as the joint lead arranger. The consortium included Rural Electrification Corporation, LIC, UCO Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, Punjab National Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Andhra Bank, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, Vijaya Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, YES Bank and Indian Bank, said Reliance Power.

R-Power bagged the project in November 2007 and the special purpose vehicle floated to implement the project, Coastal Andhra Power Ltd, was handed over to R-Power in January 2008. The company bagged the project with a bid of Rs 2.33 per unit. While Larsen & Toubro had bid Rs 2.68 per unit, Sterlite had quoted Rs 4.18 per unit, according to sources.

“About 15-20 per cent of the work has been completed at Krishnapatnam and orders have been placed with the vendors to commission the project, about eight months before the schedule,” said J P Chalasani, chief executive of Reliance Power.

The first unit of the 6x660 Mw project is scheduled to commission by mid-2013 and the sixth unit will be commissioned by February 2015. About 2,625 acres of land required for the project has been transferred to Coastal Andhra Power. The engineering, procurement and construction work for the UMPP was awarded to group company Reliance Infrastructure in October 2009. China-based Shanghai Electric will supply boilers, turbines and generators.

The UMPP would require about 14-15 million tonnes of coal every year, said Chalasani.